AI Reimagines Russian Culture at National Art Festival

At the 'Cultural Code' festival in Crimea, artists handed over their creative reins to neural networks to reinterpret Russian identity through AI-generated media.

A festival of AI-driven art called 'Russia’s Cultural Code' was recently held in Crimea, showcasing how machine learning is being used to reinterpret national heritage. Artists invited neural networks to reimagine Russian cultural identity across media formats, from music and architecture to literature, painting, and folk traditions.

Participants exhibited video works either generated or processed by artificial intelligence. The central theme: Russian identity expressed through next-gen artistic tools. Organizers said the event marked a milestone for digital art in Russia, illustrating how cutting-edge technologies can merge with heritage and culture.

Modern AI systems are breaking down the walls between artistic genres—generating everything from music to complex visual works—unlocking new dimensions of creativity. Russia’s media landscape has been increasingly focused on AI's expanding role in the creative industries, including paintings generated by neural networks that are now being sold and exhibited.

Public attitudes are also shifting. Recent surveys suggest more Russians now recognize AI-generated content as legitimate art—and are willing to buy it. One standout example: a cybernetic system created a fragrance called SD-1 (Synthetic Dream), synthesized from a dataset of 40,000 scents.