Join the spring (In)Justice Series as we examine power, resilience, and care in Minneapolis.
As federal agents continue to escalate tensions across and beyond Minnesota, questions about data, surveillance, and justice feel especially urgent. The technologies and information systems that increasingly govern daily life are not abstract: they shape who is watched and who is rendered most vulnerable in our own communities. Equally important, though, are the stories of resistance: the upstanders and bystanders, the communities who rise up when systems of power close in.
It is within this context that the Institute for Advanced Study invites you to join two events in the University of Minnesota’s (In)Justice Series on Data & Power this spring.
Building on conversations held this fall, our March and April events explore how artists are confronting AI-driven bias and how communities share knowledge across generations to resist and survive.
(In)Justice Series events are free and open to the public and are offered both in person and online via Zoom. As we explore these evolving topics together, we invite all to join and build knowledge grounded in community wisdom, justice, and care.
Spring 2026 (In)Justice Series Events
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: What Happened to the Family Tree?
Thu, Mar 19, • 3:30–5:00 p.m. • Northrop, Best Buy Theater & Online
In an era driven by data, what kinds of information counts, and who decides? While we often think of data as numbers, spreadsheets, or digital records, many communities have long relied on oral history, memory, and story as essential forms of knowledge. This event centers lineage as data—the ancestral, cultural, and place-based transmissions that shape who we are, where we are from, and how we belong. What happens when that thread of lineage is broken by displacement, forced migration, incarceration, or structural erasure? And how are people and communities reclaiming connection after these lines have been broken?
(In)Justice Series on Data & Power: Is AI the Biggest Gatekeeper?
Thu, Apr 23, • 3:30–5:00 p.m. • Northrop, Best Buy Theater & Online
In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms, who gets seen, and who gets erased? From racial bias in image generators like DALL·E and Midjourney to opaque algorithms on platforms like Spotify, TikTok, and Instagram, AI systems are quietly curating our cultural landscape. This means the algorithm—not us—is most frequently the one deciding whose art is visible, whose stories are elevated, and which creators get left behind. Our panelists will unpack the rise of digital redlining in the arts, exposing how automated systems restrict access and opportunity for marginalized artists. We will also highlight creative resistance: how artists are hacking the algorithm, reclaiming space, and building new pathways to visibility and justice. Together, we will ask: what are the consequences of bias in generative AI? Can algorithms be reimagined for equity? And what does it mean to make art in a world where machines mediate meaning?