For the second time, Deutsche Telekom and the Kunstmuseum Bonn are presenting the Human AI Art Award, which they jointly launched in 2024. The price honors artists who work in the field of fine art and cutting-edge technology, especially artificial intelligence, and who are doing pioneering work in this field. This year’s winner is the French artist and filmmaker Nicolas Gourault with his documentary Unknown Label (2023). Based on methodical research, this shows how machines learn to read the world and process it as information through arduous human labor. For his exhibition in the Human AI Art Space in front of the museum Gourault developed his award-winning work into a site-specific video installation.
Unknown Label explores the everyday lives of online microworkers, so-called clickworkers, from the Global South. They recreate and categorize images of streets for self-driving cars. The audiovisual installation brings the clickworkers’ working world to life for visitors, revealing the mostly invisible but valuable human labor necessary for training AI systems.
Nicolas Gourault (* 1991) lives and works in Paris. He initially attended art school and developed a research-oriented approach before turning to visual art. His works have been shown at art institutions such as the Centre Pompidou (France), ZKM | Center for Art and Media (Germany), Hartware MedienKunstVerein (HMKV, Germany), Ars Electronica (Austria), and at film festivals such as the Berlinale (Germany), Cinéma du Réel (France), Sheffield Doc|Fest (UK), and Punto de Vista (Spain).
The jury for the Human AI Art Award 2025: Ed Atkins (artist), Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg (Director Kunstmuseum Bonn), Prof. Sarah Cook (Professor Museum Studies, Information Studies at the University of Glasgow), Guillaume Désanges (Director Palais de Tokyo, Paris) and Antje Hundhausen (Vice President Brand Experience, Deutsche Telekom).
The nomination jury for the Human AI Art Award 2025: Dr. Inke Arns (Director Hartware Medienkunstverein HMKV, Dortmund), Çelenk Bafra (Artistic Director Istanbul Modern, Istanbul), Emma Enderby (Director KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin), Prof. Dr. Chus Martínez, (Curator, Head of Institute Art Gender Nature, FHNW Academy of Art and Design, Basel), Lauren Lee McCarthy (Media artist, winner of the Human AI Art Award 2024), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director Serpentine Gallery, London), Jean-Marc Prévost (Curator, Advisor Kadist Foundation), Anca Rujoiu (Curator Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden, Co-Curator Diriyah Biennale 2024), Noam Segal (Curator Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Co-Curator 15th Gwangju Biennale 2024), Billy Tang (Director Para Site, Hong Kong).
The exhibition will take place in the Human AI Art Space in the outdoor area in front of the museum, which was specially designed for the prize.
Film information:
Unknown Label, 2023
Video installation, color, sound, 20 minutes, continuous
Director/Concept: Nicolas Gourault
Editing: Lucas Azémar, Félix Rehm, Nicolas Gourault
Sound: Etienne André
Research Assistants: Leonard Nally Simala, Andrea Paola Hernandez, Niside Panebianco
Screenplay Consultant: Quentin Faucheux
Image Assistant: Héléna Michaud
