CODE 2026 @ ARS ELECTRONICA
I’d prefer not to
From September 9 to 13, 2026, Linz will once again become a hotspot for the international media art scene. Exhibitions, performances, concerts and conferences will be held at festival locations throughout the city. If you are at Ars Electronica, you can visit I’d prefer not to, at Francisco Carolinum, Level 2 // OK QUARTER
I’d prefer not to is an interactive installation exploring the hidden labor that trains AI. On small screens, visitors interact with stations built from image and text CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart), addressing themes such as click work, data labeling, image annotation and behavioural monitoring. The CAPTCHA becomes a metaphor for this inverted division of labour: its limited character space imposes constraints, yet enables an abstract, almost poetic narrative that remains recognisable.
The aesthetic references “click farms”—coordinated activity by low-paid workers or bots generating fake online interactions like ad clicks, video views and social media “likes”.
The project engages with debates on AI governance, platform work and data rights. Reversing the idea that AI replaces human labor, it shows how AI systems are painstakingly trained, corrected and maintained by millions of largely invisible, poorly paid or unpaid people, confronting visitors with their own unconscious involvement in data production.
I’d prefer not to is made by Bernadette Geiger (BE), Félicien Goguey (CH/FR) and Hans Lammerant (BE), with Marta Revuelta (CH/ES) as contributor. The project is one of the seven installations produced in CODE 2026, a co-creation project on digital agency. CODE is organized by IMPAKT (NL) in collaboration with Werktank (BE), Privacy Salon / CPDP (BE) and In Fine (CH).
Credits
I’d prefer not to is one of the seven installations produced in CODE 2026, a co-creation project on digital agency. CODE is organized by IMPAKT in collaboration with Werktank, Privacy Salon / CPDP and In Fine. CODE 2026 is supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL, the City of Utrecht, Pro Helvetia, the City of Geneva and the Flemish government. | More information on CODE is available on https://code.impakt.nl/ | The CAPTCHA interface in the work is generated using a modified version of CAPTCHA Generator by a-g-o-f. Available at: https://www.a-g-o-f.com/captcha-generator
I’d prefer not to / IMPAKT – Photo: Simon Pillaud
