Monday Muse

Interview: Head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture, Freya Salway

Interview

Freya Salway

29 September 2025

Interview

Freya Salway

29 September 2025

Freya Salway is Head of the Lab at Google Arts & Culture, where she develops collaborative programs and experiments that bring scientists, engineers, cultural institutions and artists together. Salway has gained an international reputation for her work on Artificial Intelligence and advanced and emerging technologies for arts and culture, working with the likes of Serpentine Galleries, Victoria and Albert Museum, Centre Pompidou, Es Devlin, Wayne McGregor, United Nations and CERN. Salway was previously an Arts Manager at Sky Arts, where she established the Sky Academy Arts Scholarships for young artists aged 18-30. Earlier this year, Salway was appointed to the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, meeting four times a year to advise the mayor on issues affecting the creative and cultural sector. Salway is also a Trustee of Darbar Arts Culture Heritage, a non-profit organisation for Indian classical music and dance. She spoke to The Wick about all things AI, from an AI opera to the self-portrait series that recently left her stunned.

THE WICK: What does a typical Monday look like for you?

Freya Salway: My day usually starts abruptly, woken by my two young children. We draw together, and then I leave for an exercise class (where I sweat lifting the lightest weights). Unless I am in Paris, where the Google Arts & Culture Lab is based, I work from home on Mondays, connecting virtually with the team. Our Lab chat group pings with everyone sharing the latest creative AI developments or interesting posts from over the weekend. With a strong cup of Yorkshire tea, I catch up on emails and set priorities for the week ahead. In the afternoon, the whole lab meets virtually to share prototypes and demos. At around 6:00 PM, I sit down for dinner with my family, which is rarely a calm experience, but hey, I live in hope.

TW: You lead the Lab at Google Arts & Culture. How do you see the relationship between art and technology evolving?

FS: Art and technology will continue to influence one another, as they have throughout history. At Google Arts & Culture Lab, we explore, with our collaborators, how advanced technologies like AI can augment our creativity and promote cultural learning and access globally. An area of evolution is co-creation: not only how some artists are co-creating with AI but how they are influencing emerging AI tools, for example, Google’s AI filmmaking tool, Flow, which was co-designed with filmmakers. Artists probe the edges of possibility and provide different perspectives; the relationship matters to build an empathetic technological world.

TW: Within your role, you collaborate with artists, technologists, curators, scientists, and cultural institutions globally to explore the application of advanced technologies for arts and culture. What has been the most exciting collaboration so far, and what are you most looking forward to?

FS: That’s a difficult question, and I can’t pick just one. I enjoy collaborating with artists because of their curiosity and openness to experimentation. Es Devlin, with whom I first collaborated with in 2017, always challenges me, thoughtfully pushing the possibilities of the technology. I am also excited by collaborations that inspire cultural learning or find new ways for us to connect with art and culture. A favourite was David Li’s ‘Blob Opera’, a playful experiment that demonstrated how AI could engage millions globally with operatic voice and harmony in a fun, accessible way. This Autumn I’m looking forward to choreographer Wayne McGregor’s exhibition at Somerset House, where we will present a new version of an AI choreography tool we first built with Wayne for his studio in 2019. Today’s version will enable visitors and digital audiences to access and create their own choreography inspired by McGregor’s archive for the first time.

TW: Why does it matter that art and technology work together, beyond novelty?

FS: Technology is deeply integrated into our lives, and as society’s navigators, artists bring new perspectives, humanity, and an ethical interrogation that is important in shaping its development. Whilst technology can provide a tool or platform for artists, more broadly, it increases access to our world’s culture, and can offer new ways to engage with and to preserve our cultural heritage.

TW: In Paul Cocksedge’s recent project, What Nelson Sees, you helped merge his artistic vision with cutting-edge AI filmmaking through Google’s tool, Flow. In this project, what was your role as a translator between the two worlds of technology and visual arts and design?

FS: At the heart of What Nelson Sees by Paul Cocksedge, it is about perspective. Paul Cocksedge was interested in Nelson’s viewpoint of the city and how to make this usually inaccessible view accessible to everyone. Paul then shared, that when capturing Nelson’s view he began to reflect on London’s past and possible futures and so, and was interested in how AI could help him bring this to life. It was a collaborative and iterative process and in terms of the technology aspect, I was interested in how AI was being used to help Paul realise something that otherwise, for him, would have been impossible.

“Whilst technology can provide a tool or platform for artists, more broadly, it increases access to our world’s culture, and can offer new ways to engage with and to preserve our cultural heritage.”

The Wick Culture - Chelsea Arts Festival - 19th September 2025 - AI & The Future of Imagination

The Wick Culture - Dreaming with Flamingoes by Yinka Ilori

The Wick Culture - Living Archive by Wayne McGregor

The Wick Culture - Please Feed the Lions by Es Devlin

TW: You’re also a Culture Ambassador for the Mayor of London. What does cultural leadership look like in a global city right now?

FS: It starts with making the cultural and creative industries a top priority, understanding, as the Mayor of London does, that culture is a core pillar of a global city’s economy, society, and identity. A dynamic global city sees that culture matters: that it drives inclusivity and enriches people’s lives.

TW: As a trustee of the Darbar Festival, an Indian classical music festival in London, what role do festivals like Darbar play in preserving cultural heritage in a contemporary city?

FS: I think it’s more than preservation; it’s about actively supporting and celebrating diverse cultural heritage as an essential, living part of our cultural ecosystem, and enabling it to thrive. Darbar, the largest Indian classical music festival outside India, embodies this. While the annual festival is the peak, we are committed to year-round work in artist development, programming and education. Darbar’s founder, Sandeep, maintains an uncompromising commitment to quality whilst striving to make Indian classical music accessible to all.

TW: Which emerging artist, designer or tech leader is doing something that’s stopped you in your tracks recently?

FS: While not strictly ‘emerging,’ it has to be Ben Cullen Williams’ latest work, ‘ Self Portrait,’ that was exhibited during this year’s London Design Festival. The work is a self-portrait of a generative AI, created in collaboration with Google DeepMind Research Scientist Jason Baldridge, who fine-tuned Google’s image generation model on Williams’ archive of photographs. Williams then used Gemini and Google’s AI filmmaking tool, Flow, to create the video work. When Ben shared this work with me, it made me pause – eyes wide, as, to me, the visual language he generated is stunning. It shows that these tools, in the hands of talented artists, can enable the creation of really interesting and distinctive new works.

TW: What is your favourite Culturally Curious spot to unwind in in London?

FS: I love the Rivoli Ballroom, which is round the corner from where I live. It’s the oldest ballroom in the country and a stunning, time-capsule venue. While I’ve never ballroom danced (yet), they host various music and dance nights and there is no better way to unwind than by having a little dance in such a magnificent piece of London history.

TW: Who is your ultimate Monday Muse?

FS: I’ve been fortunate to spend time with Sally Lockey, who runs Right Up Our Street, a community-led Creative People and Places arts programme in Doncaster. She is my Monday Muse because I think her work exemplifies truly impactful cultural leadership. She focuses on listening to communities and co-creating meaningful, relevant arts programmes from the ground up. It serves as an important reminder to me that global cultural access, which we strive for at Google Arts & Culture, begins with the individual in their local community, and the importance of connection.