Laura Wagner

Hello there! Welcome to my personal page.

I am Laura Wagner, a PhD student at the University of Zürich. My research is embedded within the project “The Canon of Latent Spaces: How Large AI Models Encode Art and Culture” led by Eva Cetinic and generously supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Currently I investigate open-source text-to-image and video generative AI models in the wild, with a focus on how they are adopted, personalized and shared across online communities. Particularly of interest is to me, how systemic issues—such as the appropriation of unlicensed or violent material in training data—resurface in personalized model outputs and community practices.

Before starting my doctoral studies, I completed my Master’s in Integrated Design at KISD Köln International School of Design supervised by Lasse Scherffig and Laura Popplow. During my studies I also worked as student research assistant at the design faculty and in the Cologne Cobots Lab. After I completed my studies, I started working as a member of the project KITEGG where I developed teaching formats integrating AI into design education. Within this role I also supported students to use the universities GPU cluster and co-headed the Living Objects Lab - a prototyping lab for design students at KISD.