University of Bonn Wins European Excellence Award European Excellence Award: AI-powered exhibition “Bring the Portr[AI]ts!” honored

Initiated by University Gender Equality Commissioner Gabriele Alonso Rodriguez, the exhibition shines a spotlight on female researchers at the University of Bonn whose achievements in research and teaching have been outstanding but whose faces have been largely if not entirely absent from photographic records to date. Generative AI was used to create portraits that never existed historically but that potentially could have—thus encouraging debate about gaps and distortions in our visual culture of memory. The public relations work for the exhibition project was handled by University Communications.

Pictures that never existed

The “Bring the Portr[AI]ts!” exhibition opened in the Museum of the University of Bonn in spring 2025. It focuses on 12 female researchers from the University of Bonn who achieved great things in their time but whose faces are largely unknown to the general public. Berlin-based photographer and science communicator Gesine Born used the AI platform Midjourney to create highly realistic portraits of these women—pictures that never existed but that potentially could have.

The initial exhibition in the University Museum attracted thousands of visitors alongside numerous page and video views online. It has since moved to the Poppelsdorf Campus lecture hall center.

No sooner had it premiered in Bonn than “Bring the Portr[AI]ts!” was also attracting nationwide attention. Among other things, some of the photographs from it formed part of a joint exhibition split across the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space’s two sites in Bonn and Berlin, where they were joined by more portraits of female researchers from other countries and higher-education institutions. It was during this exhibition that leading figures including Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bär and former Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel praised the idea of using AI to render the achievements of female researchers visible.

Sending out a strong signal

Professor Irmgard Förster, Vice Rector for Equal Opportunity and Diversity at the University of Bonn, believes that winning the award sends out a strong signal: “Excellent research needs pictures in which everyone can recognize themselves. With ‘Bring the Portr[AI]ts!’, we’re demonstrating how artificial intelligence can be harnessed to highlight blind spots in the history of science, while also reflecting critically on what prejudices data and algorithms might be harboring.”

Panel lauds clarity, creativity and impact

The European Excellence Awards are an established set of accolades for PR and communication in Europe. Divided into categories, they recognize campaigns and projects that excel by virtue of their clear strategy, creative delivery and demonstrable impact. In its statement, the panel drew particular attention to the impact achieved by the University of Bonn’s project, commenting: “Your work impressed our panel with its clarity, creativity and impact. In a year packed with exceptional submissions from all over Europe, your project stood out considerably and left a marked impression. We hope that you and your team are proud of what you’ve achieved—you have undoubtedly earned this award.”

See https://uni-bonn.de/portraits for more information on the exhibition.

Media contact:
Gabriele Alonso Rodriguez
University Gender Equality Commissioner
Phone: +49 228 73-7490
Email: gleichstellungsbeauftragte@zgb.uni-bonn.de