Kate Crawford (1974) is an international leading scholar of artificial intelligence and an artist. She holds a professorship at USC in Los Angeles, a Senior Principal
Researcher role at MSR New York, and was the inaugural Visiting Chair for AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Her award-winning book Atlas of AI (2021) reveals the social and environmental impacts of AI, and has been translated into twelve languages. Vladan Joler (1977) is an academic, researcher and artist who holds a professorship in new media at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. His work blends data investigations, counter cartography, and data visualization, and he co-founded Share Foundation, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights of people online. Over the past decade, Crawford and Joler have collaborated extensively to create acclaimed projects such as Anatomy of an AI System (2018) and Calculating Empires (2023), which investigate the global networks of labor, data, and resources underpinning contemporary technologies. Their work has been widely recognized and exhibited at renowned institutions including MoMA, the V&A Museum, Fondazione Prada, and the European Parliament.
Artistic practice
The artistic practice of Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler critically examines global networks of power embedded in technological systems, particularly artificial
intelligence. Their work highlights the extractive processes—spanning labor, resources, and data—that sustain modern technologies. With a focus on fostering
cross-cultural understanding, their transnational collaboration bridges disciplines to interrogate the manifold impacts of technological systems. Their projects
Anatomy of an AI System and Calculating Empires map in intricate detail the complex layers of technology, history, power, and geopolitics. By exposing the
interconnectedness of workers, consumers, and ecologies across continents, their work reveals the urgent need for global dialogue and equitable governance in the face of advancing AI systems.
Focus on the works selected for the jury
Anatomy of an AI System (2018) visualizes the lifecycle of an Amazon Echo, from resource extraction in the Congo to data processing in the UAE and eventual e-waste in Pakistan. This detailed map reveals the hidden costs—social, environmental, and economic—of AI technologies. Calculating Empires (2023), a large-scale installation, traces the evolution of technological power from historical empires to modern AI. By examining five centuries of colonialism, automation, and centralization, the project questions the forces shaping our current sociotechnical structures. Both works form the centerpiece of an international exhibition series, engaging audiences worldwide to reconsider their relationship with technology.
See all the laureates of the International Prize
