From the 15th to the 18th of June 2026, POEL hosted a summer school on Invisibility and Resistance to Algorithms, with Vladan Joler as visiting professor.

The program brought together participants to critically examine artificial intelligence beyond its technical dimensions. The program explored AI as a socio-political infrastructure that captures, models, predicts, and shapes human behaviour, fostering dialogue across design, architecture, computer science, art, and critical theory.

Over the course of an intensive week, participants took part in lectures, discussions, and hands-on workshops that encouraged experimentation with critical and speculative design practices. Rather than focusing on technical skills, the summer school invited attendees to reflect on the implications of AI-driven systems and to develop creative responses through concepts such as tactical opacity, invisibility, and resistance. The resulting projects included diagrams, texts, sound pieces, and other experimental forms that challenged conventional understandings of AI and surveillance.

The program welcomed Master’s students, PhD candidates, researchers, designers, artists, architects, and participants from related disciplines, creating a diverse and interdisciplinary learning environment. Through collaboration and exchange, attendees explored how design and creative practices can contribute to new ways of understanding and engaging with contemporary socio-technical systems.

By combining critical inquiry with experimental making, the program offered participants a unique opportunity to rethink AI not only as a technological tool but also as a cultural and political phenomenon. The summer school concluded with the presentation of participants’ work, showcasing a range of speculative projects that reflected on agency, visibility, and alternative futures in the age of artificial intelligence.