UNKNOWN LABEL – Nichalos Gourault – 2. Human AI Art Award

For the second edition of the Human AI Art Award 2025, 30 international artists were nominated by a jury, 23 of whom applied for the award. Nicolas Gourault was nominated by Dr. Inke Arns, Director of Hartware Medienkunstverein (HMKV) in Dortmund. A jury composed of renowned figures from the international art scene selected the winner from the submitted applications. The decisive factor in the decision was that Nicolas Gourault's work critically addresses the topic of autonomous driving and highlights the human factor in the context of artificial intelligence training. Based on methodical research, the video installation shows how machines learn to read the world and process it as information through laborious human labor.

The jury for the Human AI Art Award 2025: 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 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 the 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 to the Kadist Foundation), Anca Rujoiu (Curator at 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 (Curator, Executive Director Para Site, Hong Kong).

The design of the Human AI Art Space was realized by Meiré and Meiré, Cologne.

Film information:

Unknown Label, 2023
3-channel 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