Exploring Creative Boundaries
a welcoming experience
A two-week curriculum workshop at CISA Film Academy in Locarno unfolded as a shared exploration into the relationship between filmmaking and AI. Working with a curious and engaged group of students during the final weeks of March 2026, the course approached generative models not simply as tools, but as interlocutors, opening questions around authorship, perception, and transformation.
The program combined story analysis, technical experimentation, and a historical and critical framing of generative AI, including its ethical, legal, and ecological dimensions. From this foundation, students developed their own processes: shaping visual languages, constructing characters and maintaining their coherence, building storyboards, and moving through to post-production.
Emphasis was placed on continuity, not only within images and narratives, but within the evolving relationship between human intention and machine response.
The workshop concluded with the production of four short films, each reflecting a distinct negotiation between control and emergence.
Special thanks to the CISA faculty and director Marco Poloni for their trust, and to the Città di Locarno, the Castello Visconteo di Locarno, Marino Viganò, Chiara Lumia, Jonas Marti, and Giada Muto for their support in the research and development of the projects.
Creating Meaningful Connections Through Memory and Emotion
In elderly care contexts, memory loss and emotional disengagement represent significant challenges, especially for those living in nursing homes. Social isolation and difficulty remembering significant events can reduce quality of life.
Generative artificial intelligence offers an innovative approach to address these issues, creating new bridges between past and present while stimulating deep emotional connections. Through the creation of personalized photos and films, generative AI can reignite memories, encourage dialogue, and improve the psychological wellbeing of elderly individuals.
Find out more about the benefits on our proposal for Elderly Wellbeing, include Memory Activation, Identity Reinforcement, Emotional Wellbeing, and Social Connections.
Experience
A workshop format for audiovisual professionals has been implemented in collaboration with the Swiss national TV station (RSI). The Generative Center has established a unique, interactive workflow: Person-to-Person Exchange to an integrated process of creation spawning from live exchanges with AI generative models.
The Generative Center has confirmed a two week course on AI filmmaking at CISA Film Academy in Locarno for 2026 integrating emerging talent and relationship to AI in filmmaking, enabling students to engage and relate to the changing landscape of film productions, dynamics, range.
The Generative Center has confirmed a two week course on AI filmmaking at CISA Film Academy in Locarno for 2026 integrating emerging talent and relationship to AI in filmmaking, enabling students to engage and relate to the changing landscape of film productions, dynamics, range.
ONE-DAY IMMERSIVE WORKSHOP
CREATIVE FLOW WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
Exploring generative AI in images, video, sound, and writing
Exploring generative AI in images, video, sound, and writing
Seminars & Experience
Past seminars or workshops, a selection
Second Workshop @ RSI / Besso, Ticino
Our second workshop for film colleagues and producers at RSI national film television went down with élan. Organised by Patrik Soergel, reference for directors and video makers, and Massimiliano Babbucci, Digital Innovation responsible for RSI, this time it was held at the radio premises at Besso.
We had ample space and time to present arguments, discuss, consider options and understand what the generative intelligence game is about. From technical understanding of how AI models work, fluently presented by guest Roberto Iacoviello from RAI Italia, its history and applications, we then moved towards ethical, philosophical, theoretical and practical considerations.
One important aspect of our discussions centred around the need to revisit our understanding of intellectual property. What does it mean to have a sense of proprietorship over digitally published audiovisual content? How has social media already changed the game? What to expect with the AI proprietorship problem? In short, who owns what and what does a model use to generate images, videos, sounds and music. There are elements at play that led us to deeper one-to-one discussions, close to a philosophical tone, an existential analysis of the world, the dangers and power grabs that are in movement, and where to position oneself as an artist and a professional producer.
The practical workshop led us to a round table of exchange, trials, workshops and workflows to achieve consistency, character references, styles, and a creative approach that involves constant human interaction. We look forward to continuing this workshop for a forthcoming third encounter and expanding on this fast-paced, growing technological prowess.
Centro Professionale Sociosanitario di Lugano
Kevin Merz and Felix Bachmann have an interesting background on working with the elderly and the use of technology to stimulate creative imagination. Their groundbreaking work between 2017 and 2019 with Virtual Reality took them to a number of very successful proposals in many different elderly homes in Switzerland. Working through specific storylines, the Immersion Specialists took a person to different places, emotions, and soundscapes, from an individual immersion to a shared collaborative experience.
Back in collaboration with the CPSL in Lugano, last April the Generative Center has presented experience and research work into a new proposal for the elderly through the use of AI.
This lead to a first workshop with 3rd year students for practical applications and collaborative experiences with the elderly.
Creativity without Boundaries, Seminar Workshop @ AI WEEK/ Lugano, Ticino
An extraordinary three hour seminar format workshop opening AI WEEK Lugano 02 December 2024.
Set to a full house at the beautiful Asilo Ciani building in the center of the City of Lugano, we shared our experience, our thoughts, technical understanding, workflow and experience with Generative AI model as well as philosophical and ethical concerns.
Created by Lugano Living Lab the AI WEEK was the first edition of an entire week dedicated to the uses, impact and advances in the technology. The first day, dedicated specifically to artistic creation and uses, was a blast.
The Generative Center then worked through a live creative process for a three minute short film and the presentation of our work in progress for "Il Lupo di Curio" a first short film entirely created with AI Generative Tech in Switzerland.
Workshop @ RSI / Comano, Ticino
Full into a first splash, hands-on, discussion and thoughts shared during RSI's workshop introducing AI November 2024.
The uses, hybrid possibilities, technical elements, legal and stances, closed or open source, the relationship with the tools, intelligence, philosophical stimuli.- it all went down with a wonderful feeling. Our section dealing with generating audiovisual content for artistic purposes, filmmaking, storytelling the sharing of our experience so far.
