30 years Hinz&Kunzt. 30 life stories. 30 works of art.
30 years HINZ&KUNZT. Painted by life and AI.
Life on the street has an enormous impact on people. And their stories. For their 30th anniversary, Hinz&Kunzt will retell these stories.
30 Hinz&Künztler:innen, who have sold or currently sell the Hinz&Kunzt magazine have created unique works of art with artificial intelligence. And those artworks can and should be seen by all. With the support of the Hamburger Kunsthalle there was a gallery. But nothing fancy. It took place where the stories were written – on the streets of Hamburg.
Art from the street
for the street.
An exhibition with 30 works of art, created by 30 Hinz&Künztler:innen, who above all are survival artists. Literally, these people are marked by the hard life on the street and have often experienced discrimination, loneliness, poverty, and disease, which is reflected in the artworks.
Get to know the Hinz&Künztler:innen behind the artworks – and learn more about 30 remarkable people and their stories. Hinz&Kunzt and the Hamburger Kunsthalle present you with an exhibition like never before – not in any gallery, but on the streets of Hamburg.
30 years Hinz&Kunzt – Merch
HINZ&KUNZT.
All our popular “The Homeless Gallery” merchandise like posters, postcards, beanies, and the special issue will be available for you here soon! Thank you for your support and patience! Feel free to follow @hinz_and_kunzt on Instagram to stay up to date and not miss anything.
The pre-registration of the auction to the Homeless Gallery
The 30 works of art by Hinz&Künztler:innen are looking for a warm home, too. And if you want to provide one for them, you have the opportunity to do so in an exclusive auction. Buy one of the stories on a canvas. The auction will take place at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in the Werner Otto Saal. Here you have the possibility to pre-register for the auction. The pre-registration is free of charge.
100% of the profits from the auction will go to Hinz&Kunzt.
Die Auktion zur Homeless Gallery
Auch die 30 Kunstwerke der Hinz&Künztler:innen sind auf der Suche nach einem warmen Zuhause. Und wenn Sie es ihnen bieten möchten, haben Sie im Rahmen einer exklusiven Auktion die Gelegenheit dazu. Ersteigern Sie eine der Geschichten auf Leinwand. Am XX.XX. um XX:XX Uhr in der Hamburger Kunsthalle im Werner Otto Saal. Du erreichst uns am besten über die SBahn Station xy oder Busstation xy.
30 years Hinz&Kunzt. 30 years of hard work.
Although homelessness occurs in public spaces, those affected are often still not seen.
For 30 years, we’ve been committed to changing that. Talking about it, reporting about it, and sharing it are important. But that’s not enough. Politicians must act. And they need to do it now. That’s why we will remind the Hamburg government and the EU Parliament of their promise:
ZeroBy2030. Your voice counts! So that we become redundant and no longer have to celebrate a 40-year anniversary.
Thanks to all
supporters of this project
FAQ
You have questions? We have answers!
The Homeless Gallery is an art project that raises awareness of all degrees of homelessness in Hamburg. The project presents 30 works of art that were created with the help of an AI and through the stories of currently or formerly homeless people from Hamburg.
This art exhibition includes 30 artworks, an art catalogue, a documentary, and even a merchandise shop.
The artworks of The Homeless Gallery will be exhibited for 5 days in the centre of the homeless peoples’s lives: on The streets of Hamburg. The main focus is on places where homeless people often reside, for example in parks or underpasses.
Like the protagonists, the gallery is homeless, too. It roams the streets of the city. When the exhibition is over, the artworks are auctioned off.
The Homeless Gallery raises awareness for homelessness in Hamburg. It is not abstract but tells the very personal stories of the 30 artists behind the works – to mark the 30th anniversary of the street magazine. It’s also about money: 100 percent of the revenue from auctioning the artworks after the exhibition goes to Hinz&Kunzt.
The art market is booming, as it has rarely done before. Last year, the world’s three biggest auction houses alone generated a combined total of around 18 billion US dollars in auction revenues. At the same time, the cost of living is rising and more and more people are struggling financially. Works of art are sold for millions, while people live on the streets outside museums. And this contrast is also what the Homeless Gallery is intended to highlight.
The Homeless Gallery not only raises awareness. It also helps financially: The artworks are auctioned off at the end of the exhibition. 100% of the profits go to Hinz&Kunzt and help to continue the important work for homeless people and the fight against homelessness.
All images were designed by currently and formerly homeless people in Hamburg with the support of AI software. They show homelessness in Hamburg through the eyes of 30 people who have to or had to live on the city’s streets, some of whom died there.
First, the Hinz&Kunztler:innen were interviewed in detail about their lives. These interviews were evaluated along with articles about people from previous Hinz&Kunzt magazines. The most crucial points in the lives of the Hinz&Kunztler:innen were then entered into artificial intelligence, which provided the first interpretations. The final artwork was created in close collaboration between AI experts, art directors, and, above all, the Hinz&Künztler:innen themselves, who continued to work on the interpretations with the help of the AI until the final portrait of the individual life stories was created.
AI-based art is created by algorithms that generate artwork. Machine learning plays an important role here: the AI is fed data from existing artworks and is thus “trained”. It recognizes patterns in different styles and techniques and is able to calculate its own unique artworks on this basis.
Whether AI-based art is “true art” is a controversial question in the art industry. Some argue that the use of technology interferes with the creative power and talent of artists. For others, AI-based art is an interesting extension of creative possibilities – and technology itself is a legitimate tool in the art world.
The AI does not create artwork randomly but works on the basis of the protagonists’ stories. It thus gives people the opportunity to express themselves creatively – especially those who do not usually get the chance to do so. Therefore, human artists are just as important figures in the AI art process: they not only decide which data the AI will work with but also interpret and edit the results. AI is an artistic tool. It supports creative decisions. However, the control of the result and the responsibility for it remain with the artists.
All paintings will be sold in an auction. It will take place in the autumn of 2023. Further information will be published on this website in due time. The proceeds will go to Hinz&Kunzt, the participating Hinz&Künztler:innen who have designed pictures will receive an appropriate share.
You will have the opportunity to purchase your favorite motifs as posters or sets of postcards. Further actions are being discussed for this purpose.
100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to Hinz&Kunzt and the Hinz&Künztler:innen involved.
The Homeless Gallery is a joint project of Hinz&Kunzt and the Hamburger Kunsthalle. The implementation was significantly supported by the Hamburg agencies Mantikor, Philipp&Keuntje, and fischerAppelt. All partners are presented on the homepage.
The Homeless Gallery is a unique and joint art project of the Hamburger Kunsthalle and Hinz&Kunzt.
The Hamburger Kunsthalle is a patron for this unique art auction and supports the project’s artists.
The three Hamburg PR and advertising agencies Mantikor, Philipp&Keuntje and fischerAppelt are involved in The Homeless Gallery project from the idea to the implementation. For the good cause, they took over project management and organization pro bono, approached supporters, and took care of media and press relations.
All partners who support Hinz&Kunzt in implementing the Homeless Gallery do so without payment. Help for homeless people is vital to all involved. They have been working together with Hinz&Kunzt for many years.
The entire campaign is very inexpensive due to the efforts of many volunteers. Nevertheless, it costs a bit of money. But the action leads to donations, promotes the sale of the catalogue, and the proceeds from the sale of the pictures. These proceeds far exceed the money invested.
Donations play a very important role in the work for homeless people. The Homeless Gallery raises public awareness of this. Even among people who don’t know Hinz&Kunzt. The more awareness the Homeless Gallery raises, the more money is collected in the end.
The duration of the creation of an artwork by an AI depends on many factors. Therefore, the amount of time can vary significantly. The shortest time spent on a work of art was about an hour and the longest was several days. Beforehand, there was intensive research, preparation, and interviews.
In addition to the performance of the applied AI, that of the computer used is crucial, as well: The faster the hardware on which the AI works, the faster the model can be trained. The expectations of the artists also play an important role: the higher the expectations for the variety and quality of the AI art, the longer it takes to train the model. In addition, the AI initially generates a large number of images – only then does the artist decide which one to use.
Hinz&Kunzt is Germany’s highest-circulation street magazine, focusing on social policy, Hamburg issues, and culture. The magazine is made by professionals and sold by more than 500 homeless people, ex-homeless people, and people in precarious living situations on the street. The project provides unbureaucratic employment for people who have few opportunities in the labor market and promotes the social climate: the sale of the magazine helps to reduce the fear of contact between the rich and the poor. Hinz&Kunzt also carries out lobbying work and is a point of contact for the homeless.
A magazine costs 2.20 euros, of which 1.10 euros is for the Hinz&Künztler:innen. The circulation averages 50,000 copies sold monthly. The non-profit GmbH employs 36 permanent staff, 17 of whom are former homeless people.
AI stands for artificial intelligence. The acronym refers to the simulation of intelligence in machines that perform tasks normally solved by the human brain, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.
There are different types of AI technologies, from simple rule-based systems to complex machine-learning methods. Some AI systems are specialized for specific tasks, while others have general intelligence.
Although AI technologies have become more accessible in recent years, building and using AI systems still requires a certain level of expertise and resources. However, an increasing number of tools and services enable developers and companies to integrate AI technologies into their products and services. More and more platforms and resources make it possible for non-developers to build and train simple AI models.
All the artworks and the stories of the artists can be experienced here on the website. But the best option is to buy the official catalogue. You can get it from many Hinz&Kunzt sellers as a special edition. As with the regular magazine, half of the proceeds go to the Hinz&Künztler:innen.