Linking Viennese Art through Artificial Intelligence

The project LiviaAI investigates the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to identify patterns, connections and associations between objects within three digital Viennese art collections: the Belvedere, the Wien Museum and the Museum für Angewandte Kunst (MAK). The goal of the project is to explore and demonstrate the potential of AI as a supporting tool for curators working with digital collections, in particular when faced with the challenges of integrating data from different sources, or handling metadata created using different curatorial conventions and quality standards. The project will produce two outputs: first, a reusable method and software utilities for analyzing digital collections with the goal of identifying clusters of shared characteristics, such as common styles, motifs, materials, etc. Second, an interactive visualization which allows navigating the collections in an exploratory way. Most importantly, however, the project will work towards increasing the visibility of Vienna’s renowned art collections by building links across institutional boundaries and uncovering contextual connections between collections. Simultaneously the project will work in close cooperation with Viennese museum professionals and educators in Lower Austria, in order to build expertise, and to lay the groundwork for embedding AI-supported methods and tools more deeply in future art historical curricula and, ultimately, everyday professional curatorial practice.