Nicolas Gourault receives an Honorary Mention in the framework of this year´s Prix Ars Electronica. His EMAP project Unknown Label wins an award in the category New Animation Art.

The jury explains its decision as follows: "Unknown Label captivated the jury with its innovative approach to documentary storytelling, seamlessly integrating animation as the core narrative medium and redefining the documentary film format. The animation is more than mere illustration, it is integrated as the very essence of its narrative; the documentary could not exist without it, and it is an exemplar for the New Animation Art category of Prix Ars Electronica. The film opens with a simple, single-color animation illustrating the process of segmentation, introducing viewers to the unseen individuals who label training data for AI vision systems. As the story delves deeper into the complexity of their work, social dynamics, and the discrimination faced by these workers, the animated visuals evolve in complexity as well. The narrative crescendos with a city-scale 3D data visualization, revealing the staggering amount of invisible human labor that goes into training our AI systems. The documentary navigates complex themes with clarity and empathy, elevating the discourse on AI ethics and globalization."