to hurt for a thought brings the materiality of artificial intelligence to our fingertips as a physical, tactile experience. In our everyday life, we interact with AI tools through cold, clean interfaces that remain detached from the underlying computational costs of AI. As we send one request after another, frequently using immense computational resources for trivial, mundane tasks such as calculations or spam-like low quality media, the possibilities of generative AI seem endless, fast, and efficient. Yet each prompt, request, and generated image consumes energy and physical resources.

Although we cannot see energy directly, its byproduct heat offers us a way to feel and sense the invisible processes affecting our world. In this installation, heat serves as a medium to make the hidden energy demands of AI tangible. As the audience interacts with an image-generation tool, they input prompts via a heavy, tedious metal keyboard. With each request, the keyboard gradually grows warmer beneath their hands. The keyboard sits in close proximity to the primary component for the AI computation, the GPU, and is connected through a conductive layer of copper, allowing heat to directly transfer to the keys and our fingertips. In order to see any image, we need to physically endure the consequences of the hardware running hot because of our request.

Through touch, discomfort, and persistence, to hurt for a thought asks us to reflect on the consequences of digital creation and the often-overlooked computational costs right at the place of our usual interaction with AI: the keyboard.

Developed at the Digital Media Program Bremen
Thanks to: Ralf Baecker, Dennis P Paul, Markus Walthert, Juan Camilo Luque, and Bon Kim

Julia Vollmer (DE) (*1995) is a media artist working with machine learning, wearables, code and electronics. Interested in the errors and tensions in-between technology, human interaction, and our perception she focuses on the hidden labor and resources behind digital tools and AI as they become an integral part of daily life. She holds BAs in Digital Media from Leuphana University Luneburg and Creative Media from City University of Hong Kong, and a MA in Digital Media from the University of Arts Bremen. Her works have been exhibited internationally.

to hurt for a thought stands out for its elegant and thought-provoking way of revealing a problem that often goes unnoticed. By translating AI computation into physical heat, the work makes the hidden energy consumption of generative AI directly perceptible. It addresses a highly relevant issue—the growing and often unquestioned use of AI, even for the simplest questions and calculations—without becoming didactic. Instead, it invites reflection through a subtle yet powerful experience. The careful integration of concept, software, and hardware creates a memorable encounter that challenges assumptions about the immateriality of digital technologies and highlights their environmental and material impact.