This article aims to critically examine AI as both an active and innovative tool in artistic creation, investigating its evolving role in shaping artistic practices, expanding creative possibilities, and redefining the boundaries of human–machine collaboration. It traces the historical, conceptual, and technological integration of generative AI in art, particularly in relation to Modernism’s challenge to traditional norms. It also examines the ethical, social, and philosophical implications of AI art, focusing on issues such as authorship, legitimacy, and AI’s role in the cultural landscape. Through the analysis of two representative works—Refik Anadol’s Unsupervised and Anna Ridler’s Mosaic Virus—one mainstream and the other critically engaging with AI art’s social impact, the study examines the balance between technical innovation and conceptual depth, emphasizing transparency, originality, and human-centered approaches. Employing an extended literature review across chapters, the discussion synthesizes diverse sources to critically engage with ongoing debates. Ultimately, the article advocates for human–AI collaboration, emphasizing responsible integration to enhance creativity without losing the human essence of art. It offers highly valuable insights into the current debates surrounding AI in art and effectively guides the integration of AI into future creative practices.

Green tourism is part of the global effort to create a more sustainable living environment, taking into account the needs of both the industry, the tourists and the local communities. CCIs are considered trustworthy ambassadors of authenticity and life values, and can therefore effectively promote and/or strengthen the ecological value. This paper focuses on the role that cultural and creative industries (CCIs) can play in the implementation of sustainable development, especially in regard to green tourism, focusing on their role as communicators of green messages. The methodological tools used for the collection, analysis and interpretation of data for this research include semiotic analysis in a number of CCIs’ products, coding their ecological messages; content analysis of the CCIs’ digital posts for a one-year period in order to examine the form, types and content of the communication; and a digital ethnography of the users’ comments in order to study the perception and interaction of the receivers of such messages, focusing on past, present and potential tourists. Through the case study of Greece—a well-known tourist destination with rich cultural resources—the author tries to answer to the following research questions: (a) Could green tourism be promoted as a life value through CCIs’ products and messages? (b) Are there any good and innovative practices for such promotion through the synergy of the tourism industry with CCIs that could be used as models for further cases? This paper concludes that CCIs can promote sustainability as a life value through role modeling, educational programs, and subconscious or more straightforward messages, using both their products and formal communication channels. The more successful way for Greek CCIs to promote green tourism is through synergies with official tourism promotion mechanisms. The research shows that in many cases, this linkage has been successful in a number of ways.

This paper charts AI’s transformative path toward advancing sustainability within art museums, introducing a Human–AI compass as a conceptual framework for navigating its integration. It advocates for human-centric AI that optimizes operations, modernizes collection management, and deepens visitor engagement—anchored in meaningful human–technology synergy and thoughtful human oversight. Drawing on extensive literature review and real-world museum case studies, the paper explores AI’s multifaceted impact across three domains. Firstly, it examines how AI improves operations, from audience forecasting and resource optimization to refining marketing, supporting conservation, and reshaping curatorial practices. Secondly, it investigates AI’s influence on digital collection management, highlighting its ability to improve organization, searchability, analysis, and interpretation through automated metadata and advanced pattern recognition. Thirdly, the study analyzes how AI elevates the visitor experience via chatbots, audio guides, and interactive applications, leveraging personalization, recommendation systems, and co-creation opportunities. Crucially, this exploration acknowledges AI’s complex challenges—technical-operational, ethical-governance, socioeconomic-cultural, and environmental—underscoring the indispensable role of human judgment in steering its implementation. The Human-AI compass offers a balanced, strategic approach for aligning innovation with human values, ethical principles, museum mission, and sustainability. The study provides valuable insights for researchers, practitioners and policymakers, enriching the broader discourse on AI’s growing role in the art and cultural sector.

This study explores the nature, core features, and evolution of extended reality (XR) technologies in the 21st century, focusing on their potential in the museum context. It examines academic research and representative examples of cultural heritage enhancement from international museum practices. The specific characteristics and properties of each technology within XR’s broader scope, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality, are identified and analyzed. In addition, the study explores designs or case studies of these technologies’ application in the museum environment, including the emerging Metaverse, which blends VR and AR within the same broader conceptual framework. Furthermore, the study examines why these innovative technologies resonate with museums and assesses their impact on relational communication between modern museums and the public, particularly younger audiences. It also highlights limitations or obstacles to their widespread adoption of XR technologies in museums, while outlining future prospects for their integration. Overall, the study provides a comprehensive overview of XR’s use in museums, focusing on how these technologies enhance cultural values. It offers reflection and suggestions for authors and museum professionals regarding the design and implementation of XR technologies in modern museums.

The article focuses on the analysis of a reel post uploaded on the Basil & Elise (B&E) Goulandris Foundation’s Instagram account on the occasion of the exhibition “Nouveau Réalisme”, presented at the homonymous museum in 2023. It aims to investigate the role and function of communication messages in the digital environment of the post-COVID-19 era and especially in that of social media (SM). The article addresses various parameters related to the wider context of the message production, its role in the Foundation’s communication strategy as well as the influence of the pandemic crisis and its effects on the planning of this strategy as regards the utilization of SM. Moreover, an interpretation of the communication message based on the decoding of its symbolic meaning is proposed through the use of the visual and sociological communication model of Barthes. Finally, the message’s reception by the public is detected. The complexity and polysemy of communicative act, which is revealed through the analysis, indicate both the need for a combined interdisciplinary approach and the crucial importance of considering its variables (the message itself as well as its production and reception contexts) in a holistic manner.

Despite extensive research on technology-mediated visitor experiences, a holistic approach to the smart museum remains underexplored. This paper addresses the gap by examining novel technologies through a cultural lens, particularly their role in enhancing modern museums. We defined the concept and profile of the 21st-century smart museum based on a synthesis of findings from 83 papers and museum reports (2014–2024) on the modern museum, the museum experience, and the integration of innovative technologies. , Of these, 54 articles focused on six main technology categories—Extended Reality (XR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robots, Fusion, and others (Blockchain, Holography)—were reviewed. From the intersection of museums and technology in the digital era, 15 key characteristics emerged, outlining the ideal smart museum. This paper aims to serve as a framework and guide for cultural managers, museum professionals, and designers in creating and implementing smart museums.