AI and Artworks: Object Detection, Image Classification and Iconographic Analysis

Session

Poster Session

16 Apr 2026, 15:45

Seminar room 1&2 (Postsparkasse)

31. Artificially Intelligent Art History? A Transcultural Evaluation of Algorithmic Systems Building on Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas

Mert Özdemir (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

16/04/2026, 15:45

Poster

Currently existing AI systems – ranging from MLLMs to specialized models like GalleryGPT or CLIP – are increasingly used for art historical research, but being mostly trained on surface-level, image intrinsic characteristics, they fail to approximate deep semantic and contextual art historical methods such as Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas. This study asks two questions: Can we currently build...

18. Faces of Nobility. AI-Assisted Image Analysis of the Wiener Salonblatt (1870–1938)

Mr Christian Lendl (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

16/04/2026, 15:45

Poster

The Wiener Salonblatt was one of the most popular society magazines of fin-de-siècle Vienna. The highly illustrated weekly was published from 1870 to 1938 and primarily featured short notices about personal achievements, travels, and family matters – mostly contributed by members of the nobility. These messages fulfilled a function similar to that of posts on today’s social media platforms:...

14. Toward Digital Iconologies in Architecture

Nick Mols (Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels)

16/04/2026, 15:45

Poster

Abstract
Ever-accelerating technologies, such as 3D scanning and AI open up new approaches to research history while challenging the development and narratives of visual representations. Correlating novel digital innovations and art history resulted in ‘digital art history’ as a collaboration between art history, digital humanities, and computer science (A. Bentkowska-Kafel et al. 2005; K....