MishMash explores the meeting point of humans and machines with art and science

Why?

Machines can now make pictures, music, and stories. But are they really creative? Or are they just copying us?

MishMash is a big Norwegian research centre where scientists and artists team up to find out. We build new systems that people can make things with, we try them out in music, art, school, and games, and we ask the hard questions: Who owns a song made by a machine? Is it fair? Is it fun?

Computers can now produce images, music, and text that look and sound as if people made them. Systems like these are often called , and they are changing how we create and experience culture.

MishMash brings together researchers and artists from all over Norway to understand these systems: what they can and cannot do, how people can create together with machines rather than being replaced by them, and what this means for jobs, schools, health, and culture. We believe artists and creative researchers are especially well placed to explore AI critically and responsibly.

MishMash studies AI from the perspective of the fundamental human trait of creativity, understood here as the ability to form novel and meaningful ideas or works (Boden 2004). Human creativity has both shaped and been shaped by technological developments. Today, human creativity faces unprecedented challenges and opportunities brought by Creative AI, understood here as machine systems that can produce novel and meaningful results that stand independently (de Vries 2020). This raises several important questions: to what extent are Creative AI systems genuinely creative, how do they differ from human creativity, and how can humans and machines be co-creative? Furthermore, what are the societal implications of Creative AI, how will producers’ and consumers’ attitudes towards AI-generated creative content develop, and how can creative approaches to AI have an impact beyond the cultural and creative sectors?

We view artistic exploration as a pivotal entry point for engaging in critical discussions about AI and its implications for human-machine interaction and society. Artistic research has been integral to computer-based AI development since the early days of computer science (Colton and Wiggins 2012), exemplified by early rule-based systems for music composition (Miranda 2021) and painting (Cohen 1995). Today, learning-based systems can produce all sorts of artistic products, and several have become popular commercial products, such as Dall-E (images), ChatGPT (text), and Suno.ai (music).

MishMash aims to expand current knowledge and pioneer new CoCreative AI systems that allow partnerships between humans and machines (Anscomb 2024). We believe researchers and practitioners from creative disciplines are uniquely positioned to develop AI-based technologies and to do so responsibly, reflecting on their ethical challenges and potential drawbacks.

There are many possibilities with Creative and CoCreative AI systems, but also numerous challenges and knowledge needs:

MishMash’s primary objective is to create, explore, and reflect on AI for, through, and in creative practices, guided by the overarching research question: What are the possibilities, limitations, and transformative effects of AI on creative practices, and how can we develop CoCreative AI systems that complement human creativity while addressing ethical, cultural, and societal implications?

How?

More than 200 researchers and artists from all over Norway work together in MishMash. They meet online every week and do three things:

The work is split into seven teams, called , each looking at AI from a different angle.

MishMash gathers more than 200 researchers and practitioners from the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, design, and engineering. The centre is a lively, mostly virtual research environment with weekly online meetings, public workshops, and regular symposia with lectures, performances, and exhibitions.

The work follows three interconnected approaches:

MishMash will bring together a large multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral group of researchers and practitioners from the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences, design, and engineering. MishMash organises its theoretical and methodological “mishmash” into a structured “mesh,” where projects and activities intersect across themes, approaches, and perspectives.

MishMash cube

The WPs are designed around seven core themes, addressing the challenges outlined in the previous section. While some WPs focus on leveraging AI in creative—primarily artistic—applications, others explore the innovative use of AI in adjacent domains, fostering a dynamic interplay between art, science, and society. The work will be conducted by combining a multitude of scientific and arts-based theories and methods, which can be summarised in three interconnected research approaches:

The centre will be a lively, virtual research environment, with weekly online meetings, biweekly work package check-ins, monthly thematic seminars, regular public workshops, life-long learning events, and bi-annual symposia with lectures, performances, and exhibitions.

What?

The seven teams:

The centre’s research is organised in seven work packages:

When?

The centre started in December 2025 and will run for many years. During 2026, new researchers are being hired across Norway, and the centre gets up to full speed from the autumn of 2026.

The plan is to formally start the centre in December 2025, recruit doctoral and postdoctoral fellows during the spring of 2026 and get up to full speed from the autumn of 2026.

MishMash Gantt chart

Who?

MishMash is governed and managed by several organizational bodies, each with specific responsibilities and roles:

References

The text on this page draws on the MishMash project description (2025). Works cited:

This page adapts its content to different readers — an experiment in stretchtext and adaptive content run by the MishMash website project. Use the switcher at the top to change reading level, and see the glossary for key terms.