Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Power and Technology Since 1500

2026 Gold Award Winner

Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler
New York, USA

Calculating Empires maps five centuries of technology and power, tracing connections between the systems we use to communicate, compute, classify, and govern. Across a vast physical installation and interactive website, Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler bring thousands of histories and relationships into view, revealing how today's technologies are rooted in much older structures of power. The work challenges the idea that AI represents a complete break with the past, instead asking us to consider the histories that continue to shape our technological present.