So many tourists visit St John’s Co-Cathedral and view – amongst other things – the magnificent “Beheading of St John the Baptist”, by Caravaggio. And while all are struck by its beauty, many just remain on that ‘surface level’.
Caravaggio’s masterpiece, like so many other works of sacred art, seem to no longer be able to communicate the deeper moral and spiritual truths that they originally conveyed so masterfully. What if AI tools can change that?
Last Friday I spoke at the European Cathedrals Malta Conference on Sacred Art and Re-Evangelization regarding a Xjenza Malta-funded project I’m currently participating in. Alongside Dylan Seychell (who is leading the project), Matthew Kenely, Matthew Mangion, and Matthew Sacco we are looking into the possibility of offering visitors at St John’s Co-Cathedral’s Oratory a personal conversational AI agent that they can make use of to enhance their experience. Such a tool will not only serve to provide users with a deeper historical, artistic, and cultural knowledge of Caravagio’s “Beheading”, but possibly also serve to provoke users to think deeper…
What does this painting make me feel about injustice in the world?
What values am I ready to die for?
What motivated John the Baptist to maintain his principles to the very end?
The project is still in its early stages, and we seek to design and implement such a tool in an ethical way, cognizant of the fact that true evangelisation must be the fruit of a real, human encounter. But we hope this tool will serve to start the journey towards that encounter.
