- Artist Christopher Kulendran Thomas wins Human AI Art Award 2026
- Pioneering work at the intersection of art and technology recognized
- Immersive installation in the Human AI Art Space in front of the Kunstmuseum Bonn
Deutsche Telekom and the Kunstmuseum Bonn are awarding the Human AI Art Award for the third time, which they jointly launched in 2024. This year's winner is the artist of Tamil descent, Christopher Kulendran Thomas. The award ceremony on June 24th, 2026 will also mark the opening of the nearly three-month exhibition in the Human AI Art Space in front of the Kunstmuseum Bonn. It will feature Kulendran Thomas’ site-specific immersive installation Peace Core (surround), 2026. The Human AI Art Award recognizes artists who work at the intersection of visual art and cutting-edge technology, particularly artificial intelligence, and who are pioneers in this field.
Christopher Kulendran Thomas: “The distinction between the dual fictions of ‘human’ and ‘AI’ is something that all my work over the past decade has engaged with and I’d like to thank the jury – as well as Deutsche Telekom and the Kunstmuseum Bonn – for the chance to spatially rethink one of my installations and make it freely accessible to the public this summer in Bonn.”
Exhibition at the Human AI Art Space
For the 2026 Human AI Art Award, Christopher Kulendran Thomas has adapted his video installation "Peace Core" into a new spatial configuration for the presentation in the Human AI Art Space. Peace Core (surround) is an immersive video work of infinite duration that continually auto-edits American television footage first broadcast in the moments before the world-changing events of September 11, 2001. The constellation of screens streams this footage endlessly remixed and reedited in real time by an AI algorithm trained on the compositional methods of vaporwave music and the editing style of early corecore videos on TikTok in which seemingly arbitrary music and video are combined for emotional affect.
Bathing the space into a warm glow, Peace Core (surround) extends last moments of the “illusion of innocence” before the geopolitical shifts and repercussions that ensued were felt across the globe including Tamil Eelam – Kulendran Thomas’ family homeland.
The exhibition opens on June 24th at 7 pm in the Human AI Art Space, specially designed for the prize, in front of the Kunstmuseum Bonn. The prize winner, Christopher Kulendran Thomas, will be present for the award ceremony and opening.
Exceptional artistic position
Deutsche Telekom and Kunstmuseum Bonn continue their successful collaboration with this exceptional artistic presentation. “As Deutsche Telekom, we put great emphasis on a responsible and ethically reflective approach to modern technologies. We consciously consider its societal impact,” says Telekom CEO Tim Höttges. “Against this backdrop, we expressly support the artistic exploration of Artificial Intelligence as a bridge between technology and everyday life. Art can make abstract developments emotionally tangible. At the same time, it opens up spaces for reflection and dialogue. Above all, this is what defines their strength and their social value.”
Fragile balance between origin and future
Dr. Claudia Emmert, Director of the Kunstmuseum Bonn and a member of the jury, reflects on the jury's decision: “In his work, Christopher Kulendran Thomas explores the fragile balance between origin and future - the question of how modern technologies and algorithmic processes not only alter traditions but actively overwrite them. Against the backdrop of his Tamil heritage and the systematic destruction of Tamil Eelam's culture in 2009, this exploration gains an existential depth. In his installations, Kulendran Thomas makes AI the conductor of cultural evolution. In doing so, he demonstrates to visitors both the creative power and the manipulative potential of algorithmic intelligence. His art masterfully navigates the tension between free inspiration and technological determinism, posing the question of who retains the power to interpret our history in a networked world.”
For the third edition of the Human AI Art Award, 33 international artists were nominated by a renowned nomination jury, 28 of whom applied for the prize. Christopher Kulendran Thomas received two nominations.
For much of the past decade, Christopher Kulendran Thomas has been using artificial intelligence tools to question the myths of Western individualism. He spent his formative years in London after his family, who are Tamil, left Sri Lanka amidst increasing ethnic opression. Today, the artist uses innovative technologies in his interdisciplinary practice and collaborates with architects, writers, technologists and musicians from around the world. Kulendran Thomas’s works are represented in important collections, such as that of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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