Faulty Oracle: An Adaptive Audiovisual Installation

‘Faulty Oracle’ is an adaptive audiovisual installation that conjures a gloriously unreliable divinatory machine. Visitors pose questions through body language which the system interprets and wilfully transforms. The dialogue is a masterclass in miscommunication and the oracle becomes a mirror of ambiguity, where meaning emerges from (mis)interpretation rather than clarity.
By shifting interaction from language to the body, ‘Faulty Oracle’ gleefully dismantles any expectation of precision in human-machine exchange. ‘Faulty Oracle’ is built around real-time AI image generation and responsive sound. A motion-tracking system reads the visitor’s physical presence within the space and uses it to steer both the evolving video and the musical behaviour of the work. On screen, AI-generated imagery is continuously produced, as though the oracle were searching for a language.
The sound is equally reactive: voices and musical textures are shaped by the visitor’s physical inquiry. The piece can be presented in stereo or expanded into optional multichannel diffusion, allowing the oracle’s answers to inhabit the room more fully and spill into the space around passers-by.