[spectre] Presentation The Oracle Machine - An installation by Jeroen Joosse for the façade of De Balie in Amsterdam.

[Eric Kluitenberg]

A  N  N  O  U  N  C  E  M  E  N  T


The Oracle Machine

An installation for the façade of De Balie in Amsterdam.


“This is what we write, this is what we read;
   this is how we deal with information today”


PRESENTATION: Saturday January 20, 20.00 hrs / De Balie, Amsterdam.
http://www.debalie.nl/media


Designer Jeroen Joosse devised an interactive installation for the  
façade De Balie, centre for culture and politics in Amsterdam. The  
Oracle Machine consists of  a five screen window projection, which  
can be seen daily, starting from January 20th - after sunset - from  
the Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen and the Leidseplein on the windows De Balie.

The Oracle Machine displays a continuous stream of statements and  
opinions about social, political, and cultural issues. These texts do  
not originate from journalists, editors, writers and other  
specialists, but come directly out of the virtual public domain of  
the internet.
Current affairs and debates determine the issues, but it is possible  
for everyone to interrupt the stream and send in an issue via sms, to  
(temporarily) control the façade of De Balie.

The explosion of opinions on weblogs, fora and other places on the  
net, and the increased accessibility of this information, would  
suggest a booming climate for public debate and individual opinion- 
making. However, the fragmentation is considerable, and so is  
indifference.

The Oracle Machine visualises this cacophony. It investigates the  
tension between diversity and involvement, and brings the virtual and  
physical public spaces closer together. The automatic nature of  
retrieving texts from the internet, and the ‘bias’ used within this  
process - similar to the major search engines - confronts us with our  
information practices: this is what we write. this is what we read,  
this is how we deal with information today.

The inexorable stream of messages on the screens of the machine  
constitutes a reflection of what already for a long time is daily  
practice on the internet. The Oracle Machine stimulates, contributes  
to the formation of opinions, leaves us indifferent, irritates,  
provokes. And all this with the ‘voice of the community’.

Bring Your Issue!

The official presentation of the project is on Saturday January 20th  
at 20.00 hours. Richard Rogers, researcher and head of New Media at  
the University of Amsterdam, media theoretician Eric Kluitenberg and  
designer Jeroen Joosse will give comments and provide background to  
the project.

Subsequently, the Oracle Machine can be seen ‘live’ in action: also  
the audience will be allowed to give search terms (issues) to the  
Oracle to witness what is written on the internet at this particular  
moment about the issue at hand.

The Oracle Machine is realised with the support of Karel Brascamp  
(software development), and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.


_______

De Balie
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 10
Amsterdam
http://www.debalie.nl
http://www.debalie.nl/media