Stockholm Market Art Fair emphasizes need for global AI visual literacy

At Stockholm’s Market Art Fair from May 16 to 18 2025, amid BMW art cars (by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein) and 51 exhibiting galleries, conversation on AI stirred due to an innovative partnership funding research on visual literacy. Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency has commissioned Bildkonst Sverige (Visual Arts Sweden) to begin a study into how equipping society to be visually literate can strengthen national defense. The agency was established in 2022 to counter foreign information threats (FIMI) against Sweden or Swedish interests. While the upcoming research project scope is quite modest, as Magdalena Malm, Director of the Public Art Agency Sweden, clarified, the initiative signals a pivotal realignment in how societies might defend themselves against synthetic realities. “We have to consider that we are now bilingual,” Malm says, “and that visual language is as important as the written and spoken.” In 2025, AI has become integrated into nearly every aspect of daily life, whether that’s through selecting music on Amazon’s Alexa, or decision-making in business, or transforming education. All over the world, we are experiencing a profound shift in how society operates and interacts with technology. Disinformation, supercharged by generative AI, is no longer an abstract concern. In 2024, China’s deepfake market generated $58.2 million, expected to reach over $600 million by 2030. Luxury brands are being spoofed with disturbing frequency, whether that is digitally counterfeited handbags, deepfaked spokesmodels, or synthetic marketing campaigns. According to a 2025 Forrester report, 17% of marketing leaders globally have implemented content verification systems; meanwhile, 74% express concern over deepfake-enabled scams. Luxury, referencing industries that are built on visual identities, should take note. Visual culture is about more than aesthetic differentiation or creative capital. For brands whose value hinges on perception, image fidelity, and storytelling, the stakes could not be higher, making consumer-visual literacy of paramount importance for luxury marketing. Amid today’s booming “dupe” culture, luxury’s relationship to trust is transactional. A fake campaign, a fraudulent CEO video — as was the recent case with Ferrari’s deepfake debacle — can fracture trust overnight. And consumer psychology tells us that the damage can linger: manipulated content, even when identified as false, leaves emotional residue. This is where visual literacy can come in as a cognitive tool. From interpretation to immunity In a straightforward definition, visual literacy is about acknowledging when AI is present. “Reading capacity is linked to the ability to resist disinformation,” Malm says. “In the study we will also look at what happens when young people are overloaded with disinformation … teaching how to actively use visual language and strengthen agency and self-empowerment.” AI has flattened the barriers to visual engagement, crafting a prevalent distrust among luxury consumers when it comes to marketing. Synthetic beauty, falsified exclusivity, hyperreal bodies — all of it now circulates with the same aesthetic authority as legitimate brand content. While Gen Z consumers may intellectually grasp the artificiality, emotionally they are not immune. As Malm says, “Even if young people know these images are manipulated, they still remain in our memory, even affecting how we feel about our own bodies.” Collaboration: Luxury x art institutions There is a rare opportunity here, one that many brands have not yet recognized. “It would be great if sectors like fashion and advertising reached out to the art institutions and formulated policies of how to use visual material that is not harmful to young people,” Malm tells Jing Daily. Luxury has long aligned itself with art, but this moment calls for a more utilitarian collaboration. Brands should consider funding visual literacy programs in partnership with public art agencies. These collaborations could sponsor curricula, digital toolkits, even museum-based learning initiatives. At the very least, they could model responsible use of visual storytelling in the AI era. Brands must critically assess which visual assets — celebrity campaigns, archival imagery, product renders — are most vulnerable to AI manipulation. Establishing immediate and uncompromising disclosure policies for AI-generated content is essential. At the same time, consumer-facing literacy efforts should evolve beyond basic counterfeit detection. Instead of simply teaching audiences how to spot a fake bag, brands should encourage deeper visual literacy — helping consumers “read” images by understanding lighting, angles, and texture as persuasive tools in visual storytelling. “Freedom of expression is a foundation for a living democracy,” Malm says. “And visual expression is key in our time.” In the world of luxury, brand ethos, campaign narrative, retail design are all steered by visual representation. But freedom of expression requires the corollary skill of interpretation. Assisting this awareness, the Visual Arts Sweden initiative is responding to the growing threat of AI-generated disinformation eroding democratic discourse. Market Art Fair’s Director Sara Berner Bengtsson calls it a perfect reflection of the fair’s mission: to platform cultural dialogue at the heart of urgent global concerns. Technological solutions like digital watermarking and blockchain-based provenance systems could also shift from being optional add-ons to industry standards, in order to help consumers improve their awareness of authenticity. The AI era is definitely here, but how luxury brands navigate it is crucial to protect their identity.

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AI era: Why luxury must teach visual truth