"Oracle", a panoramic installation

The project "Oracle" by media artist Robert Darroll and composer Sean Reed deals with the cross-cultural motif of the oracle. With regard to the influence of digital media and its inherent logic, Oracle poses the question: What mechanisms and patterns are at work in the construction of meaning and subjective reality? What role do global and culturally and historically anchored ritual structures play in this?

In the center of the cylindrical PanoramaScreen is a touchscreen, which can be used to consult an "oracle". One enters a question - either in English or in German - and thereby initiates a process whose dramaturgy is based on the sequence of rituals: comparable patterns and elements of rituals can be found in a variety of cultures.

The project demonstrates that "meaning" is an interpretation of data based on different patterns and systems. The assumption of the installation is that digital technologies expand our possibilities of interaction and act as an interface to "reality". "Oracle" questions the validity of assumptions and the resulting decisions.

Production staff
Artistic concept and visual design: Robert Darroll
Composition and sound design: Sean Reed
Speakers: Harald Schwiers (German), Ed Assali (English)
Technical development and production: ZKM | Institute for Visual Media
Project Management ZKM | Institute for Visual Media: Bernd Lintermann
Production: Petra Kaiser, Jan Gerigk, Manfred Hauffen, Silke Sutter, Arne Graesser
PanoramaDisplaySoftware Plugin and software user interface: Joachim Tesch
The sound production was supported by the ZKM | Institute for Music and Acoustics