Last week, I ventured to Kristiansand, a small but beautiful city on the southern coast of Norway, for the 14th Lumen Prize awards and a symposium entitled ‘New Signals in Arts Technologies’. I was bracing myself for the usual ‘AI: good or bad?’ and ‘are computers replacing creativity?’ debates (yawn). But instead, I experienced something much more thoughtful. Artists using technology with real intention, asking hard questions about agency, identity and meaning.
The Lumen Prize has been running since 2012 and is now the world’s leading award for artists working at the intersection of art and technology. No, this isn’t just about AI (though it does play an increasing role). It’s about artists using everything from algorithms and code to robotics, interactive media and computational design to push creative boundaries.
With over $125,000 awarded since its founding, more than 900 artists recognised and an international jury from institutions including the V&A, Tate and Christie’s, the Lumen Prize showcases where art and technology meet, and what happens when they’re combined thoughtfully.
A breakthrough year
This year felt special for a number of reasons. Firstly, there was the sheer scale of the thing. Over 2,200 entries from 71 countries competed for 13 awards, judged by the largest international committee in the Prize’s history: over 85 experts from leading global institutions.
Another way the Lumen Awards pushed things forward was the addition of four new categories—Fashion & Design, Literature & Poetry, Performance & Music, and Hybrid—reflecting how digital practice is expanding into every creative field.
Cumulus by MORAKANA (Tiri Kananuruk & Sebastián Morales), USA
This is not your Garden by Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo, Colombia
And the results? Well, my main takeaway is that the best artists are no longer using technology as a shortcut, or simply for its own sake, but to take them to new, interesting and challenging places.
Gold Award: borders made visible
Take this year’s Gold Award winner, Cumulus by Morakana (Tiri Kananuruk and Sebastián Morales). At first glance, it’s technical: a project tracking clouds over the Mexico-US border via NOAA satellites. But the emotional weight is undeniable. The piece subtly contrasts our borderless, ever-shifting skies with the harsh political realities on the ground. The border becomes invisible from above, yet inescapably real for those living beneath it. This is computational art built for empathy, not spectacle.
I got a similar vibe from the Moving Image Award, which went to This is not your Garden by Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo. This immersive piece layers Colombian wetlands and forests on the edge of erasure with 500 years of exploitation and resilience. Technology here doesn’t obscure reality; it wrestles with it.
Elsewhere, in the Nature & Climate category, Self-contained by Entangled Others takes digital images, mutates them through splicing and compression, then encodes the final artwork as synthesised DNA stored in a physical capsule. It’s a meditation on what endures and what gets lost when the digital becomes real.
AI as collaborator, not replacement
It was fascinating seeing a literary prize nestled amongst the visual art, and the winner didn’t disappoint. The Literature & Poetry Award went to Sasha Stiles for Words beyond Words, an infinite poem where author and algorithm collaborate. Sasha has built a custom generative system that produces shifting echoes of voice and meaning in real time. The browser becomes a dynamic book that never stops changing.
Words beyond words by Sasha Stiles, USA
self-contained by Entangled Others, Portugal
This was one of several works showing how AI, when used thoughtfully, becomes a creative partner rather than a replacement. The machine isn’t speaking for the artist; it’s revealing patterns and possibilities the artist shapes into meaning.
Another was the winner of the Experiential Award, Deutsch / Nicht Deutsch by Daniela Nedovescu and Octavian Mot. This installation features six interactive stations where participants are examined by biased AI models that decide whether they’re German based on their faces. It’s playful and pointed, exposing the absurd logic of algorithmic bias and forcing visitors to confront what it means to hand over decisions about belonging to code.
Myth, memory and mixed realities
Another theme that emerged, at a time when tech is increasingly feared, was a reflection of its positive side. For instance, the Fashion & Design winner, The SoundShirt by CuteCircuit, turns music into real-time touch sensations through fabric-based haptics. This lets deaf and hearing audiences experience music and sports together; we saw a touching example of Newcastle fans using it at a football match.
The Hybrid Award went to Toru by Carlo Van de Roer and filmmaker Taika Waititi, an interactive three-channel video installation reimagining how oral traditions might evolve in the digital age. Technology becomes the archive and stage for stories to transform.
The SoundShirt by CuteCircuit, UK
Toru by Carlo Van de Roer and Taika Waititi, USA
Other pieces went deeper. For instance, the new Performance & Music Award went to Umweltraum((a)) by Laura Mannelli and Sonia Killmann—a nonlinear sound installation that blurs the line between natural ecosystem and synthetic intelligence, asking what separates machine from life.
Meanwhile, the Nordic Award went to Telos I by Emil Dam Seidel and Dorotea Saykaly—an immersive, holographic mixed-reality piece that imagines an AI creating itself a body after human extinction, searching for a new purpose. These are the kind of philosophical dilemmas that many of us are wrestling with right now, as AI reshapes the world. So the accompanying symposium held earlier in the day was timely indeed.
Artists as navigators, not passengers
‘New Signals in Arts Technologies’ filled the halls of the Kunstsilo—an awe-inspiring conversion of a mammoth grain silo that now serves as a major culture centre for the region—with urgent conversations about responsibility, community and what artists owe the world when wielding powerful technologies.
Artists pushed back hard against the idea that digital tools are shortcuts. Panel after panel described painstaking decisions: which parts of an installation should be random, how much code to make transparent, how to ensure participation feels real. This wasn’t about mastering technology; it was about responsible stewardship.
It was also remarkably free of abstract naval gazing; indeed, the main theme was connecting with the wider world. Artists shared how their work sparks conversations in affected communities, from Colombian schools to Scottish coastal villages. And more broadly, they stressed how the Lumen Prize highlighted practical co-creation: artists as navigators through technological change, not passengers swept along by it.
As part of its mission to engage with the world, the organisers also unveiled The Liminal Review: New Signals in Arts Technologies, a new 50-page annual publication that maps how digital creativity is reshaping culture. Written by Rachel Falconer of Goldsmiths, University of London, and developed with Sónar+D and Onassis ONX, it draws on insights from thousands of submissions. This looks set to become a benchmark for understanding the ethical, societal and political questions running through these new visual languages.
Key takeaway
As the crowd filtered out from the Kunstsilo into the cold harbourside air, all the old clichés about digital art being empty, automated or trivial felt impossible to sustain in 2025. The Lumen Awards proved to me that when used with intent and curiosity, technology (AI, code, robotics, interactive media) can become one of the most meaningful sets of tools artists can wield.
Umweltraum((a)) by Laura Mannelli and Sonia Killmann, France
Telos I by Emil Dam Seidel & Dorotea Saykaly, Denmark
The winners showed that real creativity isn’t measured by what technology can do, but by how deeply artists ask why and for whom it should be used. In short, this is what art made with technology looks like when it’s done right, not as a replacement for human creativity, but as an amplification of it.
2025 Lumen Prize Winners
Gold Award
Cumulus — MORAKANA (Tiri Kananuruk & Sebastián Morales), USA
Monitors the Mexico-US border by tracking clouds via NOAA satellites, contrasting borderless skies with rigid ground-level politics.
Moving Image Award
This is not your Garden — Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo, Colombia
Digital exploration of Colombian wetlands and forests at the edge of disappearance, layering 500 years of exploitation and resilience.
Literature & Poetry Award
WORDS BEYOND WORDS — Sasha Stiles, USA
An infinite poem exploring the dialogue between author and algorithm through a custom generative system that transforms the browser into a dynamic book.
I WOULD LIKE TO BE MIDNIGHT / I WOULD LIKE TO BE SKY by Amelia Winger-Bearskin, USA
Organism: In Turbulence by Navid Navab, Canada
Experiential Award
Deutsch / Nicht Deutsch — mots (Daniela Nedovescu and Octavian Mot), Germany
Installation in which biased AI models determine whether participants are ‘German’ or ‘Not German’, questioning identity and algorithmic bias.
Nature & Climate Award
self-contained — Entangled Others, Portugal
Digital images mutated as DNA through crossbreeding and splicing, with the final artwork encoded as synthesised DNA stored in a physical capsule.
Performance & Music Award
Umweltraum((a)) — Laura Mannelli and Sonia Killmann, France
Nonlinear, immersive sound installation exploring a mutating synthetic ecosystem that questions life, machines and non-human intelligence.
a space for encapsulation by Andrey Chugunov, UK
The Sylphs by Ana María Caballero, USA
Still Image Award
The Sylphs — Ana María Caballero, USA
From Being Borges, a poetic and post-photographic recasting of Jorge Luis Borges & Margarita Guerrero’s ‘Book of Imaginary Beings’.
Fashion & Design Award
The SoundShirt — CuteCircuit, United Kingdom
First fabric-based haptic wearable rendering the full audio spectrum in real-time, connecting deaf and hearing users to music and performance through touch.
Hybrid Award
Toru — Carlo Van de Roer and Taika Waititi, USA
Three-channel video installation exploring mythology and filmmaking technology to re-engage with storytelling systems that shaped cultural memory.
Nordic Award
Telos I — Emil Dam Seidel & Dorotea Saykaly, Denmark
Immersive, holographic mixed reality experience: ‘After the extinction of humankind, an artificial intelligence creates itself a body in search of a new purpose.’
Identity & Culture Award
Organism: In Turbulence — Navid Navab, Canada
Investigative platform revolving around a robotically-prepared historic pipe organ, attuning viewers to kinetic chaos and turbulent sonic dynamics.
Carla Rapoport Award
a space for encapsulation — Andrey Chugunov, United Kingdom
Explores Scotland’s coastlines through photogrammetry, generative sound and poetic narrative, documenting zones impacted by rising sea levels.
Special Commendation Award
I WOULD LIKE TO BE MIDNIGHT / I WOULD LIKE TO BE SKY — Amelia Winger-Bearskin, USA
Ongoing exploration of Indigenous futurism and computational storytelling, foregrounding cultural memory and speculative worldbuilding as resistance and renewal.
