UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State College of Arts and Architecture’s Center for Pedagogy in Arts and Design (CPAD) and the Palmer Museum of Art have teamed to offer the “Remixed: The Human + AI Art Contest,” in which participants are tasked with using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to reimagine a piece in the Palmer’s permanent collection.
The contest is open only to Penn State students and submissions are being accepted through March 15.
Entrants can choose from 33 public domain artworks curated by the Palmer to represent diverse works across various mediums including painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. Multiple entries are allowed and the five winning submissions will receive a cash prize of up to $200.
“We hope that the selection of Palmer collection source images will prompt students to look closely and practice deep observation skills before strategizing a way to adapt, enhance or reenvision the artwork using AI tools,” said Keri Mongelluzzo, educator for academic engagement and access at the Palmer Museum of Art. “This collaborative project advances the Palmer’s goal of supporting students as they develop a greater visual literacy within a fun, yet structured framework.”
Per the contest rules, entrants may submit up to three AI remixed works; a 150-word explanation of the tools, prompts and creative approach; and a video describing animation techniques and temporal creative decisions. The public is invited to view and vote on the submissions beginning March 20 and through April 5. Following that, a committee comprising students, faculty and staff will judge the works from April 6 through April 12. Winners will be announced on April 15.
Jacob Holster, assistant teaching professor of music education and coordinator of CPAD, said the inspiration for the contest came from "AA290G: Creating and Learning with AI in the Arts," a course he developed and teaches.
A foundational assignment within the course requires students to visit the Palmer Museum and challenges them to transform, edit and remix artwork. By working with existing artworks, Holster explained that the assignment offered the opportunity to dispel the false dichotomy of “AI slop” versus AI art that comes from diffusion models, which are a class of generative AI that creates primarily images, video and audio.
“When the source material is human-made, and the algorithm is not, what is the outcome?” Holster asked. “How does this process highlight working with or thinking with AI versus having it work or think for you? These are the questions that drove the assignment and now drive the contest.”
According to Holster, a successful contest will be one that produces a wide range of submissions using diverse tools where the original work stays recognizable and the remixer’s perspective is clear — all while the museum collection is treated as a shared cultural resource for interpretation.
“Longer-term, I hope this contest makes room at Penn State for serious, public reflection on creative AI — what it can do, what it can’t, and what we want it for, and what we don't want it for,” Holster explained.
The collaboration with Palmer, Holster said, provides a unique opportunity to explore and to better understand AI outputs that have commonalities with artworks.
Museums, he explained, can serve as a mediator between public perception and artists' intentions. To him, that dynamic offers fertile ground for collaboration between the Palmer Museum and CPAD.
“We can use public domain artwork as the site for reflection,” Holster said. “Intentionally perceiving AI-generated images and videos removes the commercial element and elevates the natural human desire to critique art-like outputs — sometimes allowing us to see and feel brand-new things that haven't been imagined before.”