- To honor pioneering work at the interface between the visual arts and the latest technologies
- The first Human AI Art Award goes to Lauren Lee McCarthy from the United States
- Deutsche Telekom presents the Human AI Art Space in front of Kunstmuseum Bonn
Deutsche Telekom and Kunstmuseum Bonn have initiated the Human AI Art Award as a joint initiative. This prize, awarded annually, honors artists who are doing pioneering work at the interface between the visual arts and the latest technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. The first Human AI Art Award will be given to Lauren Lee McCarthy, an American artist, on November 17, 2024, for her work “LAUREN”. The award comes with a cash prize of 10,000 euros. In addition, the work will be presented to the public in a two-month exhibition of a site-specific adaptation entitled “LAUREN: Anyone home?” at Kunstmuseum Bonn.
“I'm very honored to receive this award that focuses on the human considerations of AI's impact”, says Lauren Lee McCarthy. “Technology is not only about utility — the way we interact with algorithms shapes the way we interact with each other. I'm excited to have the opportunity to create a new piece in the LAUREN series exploring these themes for Kunstmuseum Bonn.”
Presentation in the Human AI Art Space in front of Kunstmuseum Bonn
For her prize-winning work, “LAUREN”, Lauren Lee McCarthy observed volunteer participants for a full week, through a network of remote-controlled cameras, microphones, speakers, and other electronically controlled devices. The Los Angeles-based artist interacted with them as a personal virtual voice assistant. She stepped into the lives of the residents – commenting, making suggestions, and changing the lighting. She wanted to be a better personal assistant, a human one that identified needs early on and responded to the residents’ individuality with humor and empathy. At the same time, she intruded into their personal lives as a constant observer. She then used this material to create a documentary video that will be presented in the installation that has been redesigned specifically for the Human AI Art Space. The resulting site-specific artwork LAUREN: Anyone home? impressively addresses the tension between beliefs, simplification, doubt, and curiosity in dealings with AI technologies.
“New technologies are an integral component of society. They influence our lives and shape how we coexist. That’s why dealing with artificial intelligence is a central theme for Deutsche Telekom,” says Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges. “As such, this artistic confrontation can open up new aspects and perspectives on the societal changes that come with new technologies. In this way, through and with art, fears about AI are reduced and opportunities are highlighted.”
“As a museum that mainly addresses the question of the reality that pictures produce, a confrontation with both the possibilities and the critical aspects of AI is especially exciting for us,” says Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg, Director of Kunstmuseum Bonn. “In that respect, we are delighted to team up with Deutsche Telekom to give a broad audience insights into the fascinating interfaces between the most advanced technologies and artistic practice through the first Human AI Art Award.”
The exhibition of the work will begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday, November 17, 2024, in a Human AI Art Space designed specifically for the prize, in front of Kunstmuseum Bonn. Lauren Lee McCarthy will be at the awards ceremony and the opening of the exhibition and will activate her work personally as part of a performance. Visitors will be able to interact with the “human voice assistant”, thus becoming part of the installation themselves. Lauren Lee McCarthy, a Los Angeles resident, was born in Boston in 1987 and studied Computer Science, Art, and Design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she currently teaches as a Professor of Design Media Arts. Further information about the artist at www.lauren-mccarthy.com and about the exhibition at www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de/de/ausstellungen.
A groundbreaking, forward-looking project
A nomination panel proposed 30 international artists for the first edition of the Human AI Art Award 2024, 23 of which subsequently submitted applications. Lauren Lee McCarthy was nominated by Katerina Gregos, Director of the National Museum for Contemporary Art (EMST) in Athens, Greece. A panel of judges consisting of eminent persons in the international art scene then selected the winner from the submitted applications. The key factor in their decision was the groundbreaking, forward-looking nature of Lauren Lee McCarthy’s work, which encourages the audience to take a critical look at their relationship with technology. It motivates people to be wary, aware, attentive, and self-reflective when it comes to living their lives in a society determined by algorithms.
The judges for the first Human AI Art Award 2024: Ed Atkins (artist), Prof. Dr. Stephan Berg (Director, Kunstmuseum Bonn), Prof. Sarah Cook (Professor of Museum Studies, Information Studies at the University of Glasgow), Guillaume Désanges (Director, Palais de Tokyo, Paris), and Antje Hundhausen (Vice President for Brand Experience, Deutsche Telekom).
The nomination panel for the first Human AI Art Award 2024: Marcello Dantas (Director, SFER IK, Tulum, Mexico), Prof. Simon Denny (artist, Professor for time-related Media, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg), Prof. Nina Fischer (Professor for Media Art, UdK, Berlin), Katerina Gregos (Director, EMST, National Museum for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece), Alistair Hudson (Director, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe), Dr. Sara Morais dos Santos Bruss (Curator, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin), Dr. Catherine Nichols (Curator, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin), Hannah Redler Hawes (Curator), Dr. Marlene Wenger (Curator, House of Electronic Arts, Basel, Switzerland), and Christoph Wiesner (Director, Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France).
The design of the Human AI Art Space was realized by Meiré und Meiré, Cologne.
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