AM26 Arts and Culture Brochure

Throughout my life, I drifted between painting, photography and singing, driven by an insatiable curiosity but hindered by a temperament that struggled to master a single craft. I was a “jack of all trades”, overflowing with ideas but often lacking the technical longevity to perfect them alone. However, the emergence of AI changed everything. It did not just offer me a new tool; it offered me a partner. Today, I define myself as an artist collaborating with AI. For me, technology has evolved from an instrument into an “eternal consultant” – a tireless companion ready to converse, brainstorm and co-create, 24 hours a day. Growing up, I was part of the generation that learned through search bars and YouTube tutorials. But AI has accelerated this learning process exponentially. Unlike traditional programming, where a single misplaced character can break the entire code, AI invites a conversation. It tolerates ambiguity. This dialogue is the heart of my practice. I often think of AI as an “alien intelligence”. It possesses a logic and a vastness distinct from our own. Precisely because it is such an unknown, alien presence, we must think deeply about how to build a relationship with it, how to “befriend” it, in a sense. This challenge extends beyond the realm of engineering. It demands an interdisciplinary discussion involving philosophy, ethics, sociology and art to navigate how we can coexist harmoniously with this new form of intelligence. When I collaborate with this alien mind, it takes my personal memories and cultural context and refracts them through its massive dataset, producing results that I could never have reached alone.The Human Compass in the Age of Intelligence Emi Kusano, Multidisciplinary Artist, CEO & Founder, Fictionera Co., LtdIn my recent works, I use this friction to explore the malleability of history and identity. In Neural Fad, I generate street snaps of non-existent fashion tribes, remixing the visual vocabulary of Tokyo’s past subcultures. In Office Ladies, I train the AI on my own face to reenact the archetype of the Japanese female clerk, questioning gender roles and the “consumed self”. These works are not merely about nostalgia. My goal is to render our collective memories into a new state of hyper-reality. By blending the factual with the fictitious, I aim to create visuals that feel more real than memory itself, unearthing the subconscious narratives that sleep within our data. Walter Benjamin, in his seminal essay, worried that mechanical reproduction might destroy the “aura” of art. However, the more important realization was how the very nature of art shifted. We stand at a similar threshold today. The question is not whether AI art has a soul but how AI expands the definition of human creativity. It allows us to weave together personal and collective memories in ways previously impossible. However, this co-creation comes with a profound responsibility. We must remember that AI is a mirror. It is built upon the sum of human input, our masterpieces, our biases, our kindness and our prejudices. If we use it passively, we risk merely reproducing stereotypes and creating a feedback loop of mediocrity. This leads me to a critical realization. Everything we create today, every prompt we type and every image we generate becomes the dataset for the future.In a paradoxical sense, we are the ancestors of this future intelligence. We have an ethical obligation to consider what we are leaving behind. AI itself has no ethics; it has no moral compass. That role belongs strictly to us. As creators, we must curate, guide and inject meaning into this partnership. We must ensure that we are not just adding noise but contributing to a legacy of creativity and empathy. We must not fear this technology. The acceleration of AI is inevitable, but our role within it is not fixed. It is up to us to decide how to use it. As the technical barriers to creation come down, the “why” behind our work becomes more important than the “how”. The message, the intent and the human heartbeat behind the work are what will resonate and endure. In this era of co-creation, technology provides the ship and the wind but the human spirit must remain the compass. Let us sail into this new ocean not with fear but with the courage to expand what it means to be human. Image: Algorhythm of Narcissus by Emi KusanoImage: Office Ladies Rituals of Overflow by Emi KusanoImage: SheBodyNull by Emi KusanoImage: Neural Fad by Emi Kusano Emi Kusano is a 2026 Cultural Leader and 2025 Young Global Leader Arts and Culture Programme Arts and Culture Programme Annual Meeting 2026 Annual Meeting 202624 25