Symposium: Algorithmic Sovereignty

About this event

The David R. Ravin School of Architecture presents the Fall 2026 Marley P. Carroll Symposium, "Algorithmic Sovereignty: Jazz as Source Code." The two-day symposium brings together computational designers, spatial theorists, and musical avant-gardists to explore how cultural musical traditions-specifically the structural improvisation of jazz-hold the blueprint for future computational design and spatial justice.

Taking place in two spaces, "Algorithmic Sovereignty: Jazz as Source Code" operates as a critical bridge between School of Architecture and the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

The symposium posits a radical reframing of artificial intelligence: moving away from the perception of AI as cold, extractive machinery, and instead treating it as an "ancestral repository" of human genius and cultural memory. By translating the complex polyrhythms of jazz into a rigorous structural lexicon, the event empowers designers and communities to transition from passive consumers of digital tools to active architects of their civic data and spatial futures.

Day 1 is a Cultural Innovation Summit at the Harvey B. Gantt Center and features technical and musical workshops, followed by keynote presentations from David Brown (Professor, UIC; theorist on the "Available City") and Olalekan Jeyifous (Black Reconstruction Collective artist and speculative architect). A special keynote video presentation by seven-time Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon grounds the evening in the architecture of survival and cultural memory, with a civic design panel response featuring local architects such as Cathy Morrison, FAIA, and Malcolm Davis, AIA.

REGISTER HERE for Day 1 at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture.

Click here to learn about Day 2 at UNC Charlotte's Storrs Salon.