Hinz&Kunzt searched for a unique concept that confronted people's disregard for homelessness. To combat the currently low willingness to donate, we turned to where the hard times are good times: the flourishing art market. With the help of AI, homeless people turned into artists, and we exhibited their artwork at 13 locations resulting in an entirely new kind of gallery that, like its homeless artists, lacks shelter and makes their world visible. The stopping power of the gallery confronted people with the upsetting topic in an eye-opening way. Successfully: 87.3 million earned media reach +315 news outlets.

Last year, 43 people died homeless on Hamburg’s streets. Even harder to swallow knowing that the city has the highest concentration of millionaires in Germany and its local government is committed to eliminating homelessness in Hamburg by 2030 under the motto #Nullbis2030 (#ZeroBy2030). Germany’s top street paper, Hinz&Kunzt, wanted to celebrate its 30th anniversary, and asked us to help them issue a wake-up call to Hamburg’s citizens and politicians in particular. The aim was to draw more attention to the issue of homelessness. And to do something about the massive drop in donations. Once again, people experiencing homelessness suffer the most in times of crisis like these. Specifically, the aim was to increase donations and raise funds for the organisation’s long-term housing projects. We also focused on potential donors and Hamburg institutions, which Hinz&Kunzt could later win over as partners and sponsors.

Hinz&Kunzt helps people living on the streets help themselves. What started as a cooperation of homeless people and journalists has become the largest street paper in Germany. They operate significant housing and employment projects to support homeless people in Hamburg. Hamburg's Senate signed up to the EU's goal of eliminating homelessness by 2030, but there are no concrete plans to achieve this. Even though the city boasts the most millionaires in Germany – and the highest rate of people dying homeless on the streets as well. This is why Hinz&Kunzt wanted to celebrate their 30th anniversary this year by shaking things up.

The Hamburg Kunsthalle is one of Germany's most prestigious art museums. It houses seven centuries of European art, including Casper David Friedrich’s most famous painting "Wanderer over the Sea of Fog". The Christie’s auction will happen at the Werner-Otto Hall in Fall.

We all feel the consequences of the current crises – especially the poorest of the poor: the homeless. But for some, bad times are actually good times. A paradoxically record-breaking art market made us turn homeless people into artists to help them profit from art.

Hinz&Kunzt sellers became Hinz&Kunzt artists. And their stories turned into real art.

Our homeless artists shared their life stories over hour-long conversations. Then, with AI's support and the Hamburg Kunsthalle's expertise, they created intimate and moving art out of them. We exhibited the resulting art pieces at 13 locations under bridges, at subway stations and on the streets – resulting in a striking new way to raise awareness. An entirely new kind of gallery.

A pop-up gallery that, like its homeless artists, lacks shelter and makes their world visible.

The Homeless Gallery - 30 years of Hinz&Kunzt.

30 life stories. 30 art pieces.

Thousands walk past the homeless daily and don't see them. With the current situation, many who saw them stopped donating or buying the street paper. To help Hamburg's citizens face homelessness and remind the city's politicians of their commitment, we focused on 30 homeless people, their stories, and unique exhibitions. Video portraits, a photo series, a short documentary, and pop-up galleries combining beauty and grief into an unforgettable experience created such a buzz that people just couldn't look away. The exhibitions also allowed visitors to buy merchandise or engage through QR codes leading them to the website, where they could donate and learn about Hinz&Kunzt, the art and the artists. To promote the exhibitions, we ran an extensive multimedia campaign, including real-time information about the venues. We also recruited Hamburg's two largest football clubs to increase the campaign's reach and Christie's to raise more funds with an auction.

We interviewed 30 homeless people for hours. Their stories became the template for the instructions we fed AI. Afterwards, we invited them back to work on their art pieces, along with curators and our AI specialists. We used the resulting artworks to turn all of Hamburg into a gallery like no other. The 13 exhibitions became a striking way to have people face homelessness rather than look away. From live TV coverage of the Vernissage to Hinz&Kunzt's appearances on talk shows to radio and cinema spots, The Homeless Gallery became the talk of the town. For further promotion and precise location details, we also ran a massive SoMe campaign between January and March 2023. Hyper-localised DOOH drove people to the venues, where they had multiple opportunities to engage and act. Finally, the works will be exhibited in the Hamburg Kunsthalle in the fall when Christie's auctions them off.

The Homeless Gallery shows how the meaningful use of AI alongside a creative solution with stopping power can fight one of our society's greatest ills: homelessness. Faced with a small budget and a big task, we designed a campaign that relied on the sheer power of creativity, connection, and an attention-grabbing narrative. Over 100,000 people visited the 13 exhibition venues in two and a half months. The special edition art catalogue became the best-selling publication in the history of Hinz&Kunzt and the increased awareness raised sales of their street paper by 32%. Their website's traffic rose by 75%, and all Homeless Gallery merchandise sold out swiftly. The touching and striking nature of the project caused word-of-mouth to be decisive. And yet, the campaign's success is also due in part to the press' enthusiasm: 315 national and international news outlets reported on the initiative, including outlets such as the German Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, NBC, The Wall Street Journal and AP.

Our social media channels created 750,000 impressions, and in total, the project generated an earned media reach of 87,3 million while bringing the Homeless Gallery and the topic of homelessness into the limelight. Continuing the success story, both of Hamburg's most famous football clubs invited The Homeless Gallery to their stadiums.