REPORT: Automation in culture. How are cultural institutions coping with technological change?
2025 is another year in which digital technology occupies a prominent place in publicdiscourse, capturing imaginations and challenging long-held beliefs and behaviors. The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as Gemini and ChatGPT, means people now have access to tools that can support their work and creativity. However, these tools can also stifle creativity and take over difficult and often tedioustasks that require reflection, patience and time.
In commissioning this report from a group of students at the SWPS University underthe supervision of Dr Jakub Piwowar, the Warsaw Observatory of Culture (WOK) asked two fundamental questions: Are today’s cultural institutions in Poland sufficiently resilient to the tsunami of technological change? Are they able toimplement diverse technologies without damaging the sustainability of their teams, their founding missions or their special relationship with audiences, which is oftendeveloped over decades? This report is an attempt to outline the key issues and challenges that Warsaw’s theatres, museums, orchestras and cultural centres face in the context of the digitalrevolution.
