“Negotiating the meanings of artificial intelligence in museum exhibitions”an open talk by Dr. Alisa Maximova on 29.10
Next Tuesday, 29th October at 16:15 Dr. Alisa Maximova (Center for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum) will give an open talk titled “Negotiating the meanings of artificial intelligence in museum exhibitions”.
The lecture will be held in a hybrid format. Registered students should attend the event in person. Those outside the walls of TU Darmstadt may join via Zoom. If you would like to attend the event online, please follow the instructions on Eventbrite to secure your spot!

Dr. Alisa Maximova is postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum. Alisa Maksimova studied at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russia, obtaining BA and MA degree in Sociology there. She defended her PhD thesis, titled “The order of social interaction in a museum of science and technology: opportunities of microsociological approach”, in 2017. Her areas of expertise include interactional sociology and qualitative social studies. Among Alisa’s research interests arescience and technology studies and museum studies. Her projects concern studying technology and interaction in various contexts. She has investigated human-robot interaction in a call centre and has done research on how people explore and make sense of multimedia museum exhibitions. At the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies, Alisa is involved in a research programme “Educational technology and Artificial Intelligence”, where she focuses on studying how people learn about AI and with AI in informal science learning environments.
The abstract of the talk is as follows:
Museum environments offer an opportunity for the public to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) in an accessible, multifaceted, and hands-on way that is not always possible in other media. At the same time, the museum context brings about new challenges and controversies. In a case study of museum exhibitions on AI in Germany, I analyze their contents and design, and conduct interviews with exhibition teams to answer the following questions: What specific approaches do museums use to present AI? What imaginaries and narratives of AI are constructed in museum exhibitions? How do the images and narratives of AI in museums differ from those constructed in other media, popular culture, and political discourse? I show that interactivity is a popular way of constructing “authentic” visitor experiences of AI, although it contributes to reproducing certain technological myths (e.g. anthropomorphizing AI, displaying humanlike and lifelike technology). Reliance on distinctive AI aesthetic in the design of museum exhibitions shifts the focus away from AI itself and explaining the technology. Finally, narratives about AI in museums are often framed in binary terms (good or bad, benefits or dangers).
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
valentinaprishchepova (October 22, 2024). “Negotiating the meanings of artificial intelligence in museum exhibitions”an open talk by Dr. Alisa Maximova on 29.10. HDSM. Retrieved May 16, 2025 from https://hdsm.hypotheses.org/3923