Helena Nikonole
Helena Nikonole is a new media artist, independent curator, researcher and educator based between Berlin and Istanbul. Her field of interests embraces AI, hacktivism, hybrid art and bio-semiotics. One part of her practice is dedicated to utopian scenarios of post-human future and art as innovation l, while another is focused on dystopian present and critical approach to technology.
She presents talks, lectures and workshops in the field of Art & Science and AI & Art at different institutions including transmediale festival (Berlin), Paris College of Arts, Art Laboratory Berlin, Mutek Festival (Montreal and Tokyo), Leiden and Eindhoven Universities (Netherlands), Swiss Interactive Media Days, Creative Days Vienna, IMAL (Brussels) and many others.
Her artistic work has been presented internationally by institutions and festivals such as Ars Electronica, ZKM Museum (Karlsruhe), CTM Festival (Berlin), Athens Digital Arts Festival, Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Drugo More (Rijeka), Digital Art Zurich Festival, "YouFab Creative Award 2019 Winners Exhibition" at SHIBUYA QWS (Tokyo), Open Source Body Festival 2022 (Paris), Warsaw Biennale 2022, Cairotronica Festival 2025 etc.
Her curatorial projects include exhibitions such as Learning Machines (Electromuseum, Moscow, 2019), Art Code (Solyanka Gallery, parallel program of Art for the Future International Festival, Moscow, 2021), Cybernetic Serendipity (Akbank Cultural Center, Istanbul, 2023) and Golden Horn Light Festival (funded by Contemporary Istanbul Foundation and opening in Istanbul in September 2025).
In 2019, Nikonole received special prize from the YouFab Creative Award (Tokyo, Japan).
She was awarded a prize in the Web Art category by the Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) in 2021.
She was nominated for the S+T+ARTS Prize of the European Commission in 2022 and won the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2023.
In 2025, she holds fellowship from the Berlin Senate for her artistic research on AI and political ideologies.
