Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Wellington, The Performance Arcade 2022
ORACLE 2.0
Site Specific Interactive Experience.
Go ahead…
ask her anything
Oracle 2.0 is an omniscient code generated being who lives in cyberspace. From time to time, she takes on the form of an architectural structure so she can be comprehensible for humans. Despite her colossal, god-like appearance, Oracle 2.0 is completely aware she was created by humans and therefore her knowledge is limited to collective human knowledge.
Project description:
Oracle 2.0 is a colossal, outdoor projection-mapped character that audiences can engage with by asking questions in real time. In this site-specific public intervention, a giant animated face is projected onto an architectural structure, designed and mapped in response to the architecture. Audience members stand at an “altar station” where they can verbally ask questions and converse with Oracle 2.0.
Projection mapped pixel glitch precisely matches the bricks of the building.
Video demo:
(sound on)
Human cosplaying as AI:
While Oracle 2.0 appears to be a sophisticated AI chatbot, in reality a human actor is stationed nearby, with facial tracking technology creating the animated face, voice distortion, and triggered emoji animations. The concept is inspired by the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, where the protagonists journey to find answers to their existential questions. When they reach their destination, they are presented with a larger-than-life installation representing The Wizard, which in reality is a projection controlled by a small, frail man hiding behind it.
Wizard of Oz (WoZ) testing is a also user research method used by developers, where a human operator secretly controls a prototype's functionality to simulate a fully developed, often AI-powered, system.
By combining digital rendering with live human performance, this installation explores how it can be difficult to discern the difference between AI and human interaction in our increasingly digital lives
Iterations and team:
Whanganui 2021, Lights on Bikes Festival:
Erica Sklenars: Creator / Director / Project Manager
Rachel Neser: Animation / design / facial tracking
Samuel Lovrich-Fitzpatrick: Sound Design
Bek Coogan: Actor
Pōneke / Wellington 2022, Te Papa, The Performance Arcade
Erica Sklenars: Creator / Director / Project Manager
Rachel Neser: Animation / design / facial tracking
Samuel Lovrich-Fitzpatrick: Sound Design
Heleyni Pratley: Actor
INSIGHTS:
At the time this was shown (2021/2022) LLMs were nowhere near as sophisticated as they are today, however the audience generally believed ORACLE 2.0 to be AI. They would receive charmingly/unsettlingly human answers and interactions, with a wealth of local knowledge, slang and Te Reo. We plan to hold a third iteration of ORACLE 2.0 in 2026/2027, to see how audience perceptions and interactions may have changed.
Each of the previous iterations were in very different environments, yielding vastly different results in terms of mood, audience interaction and questions. The actor was able to adapt and respond accordingly.