<nettime-ann> Orakelmachine op de Balie façade in ere hersteld!

[Eric Kluitenberg <epk@xs4all.nl>]

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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 reconstructed.

Just in time for the Sonic Acts festival that takes place in Amsterdam this weekend at De Balie and Paradiso, the Oracle Machine installation for the Oracle Machine installation of designer Jeroen Joosse has been reconstructed. The Oracle scrapes the internet looking for statements about the 'Poetics of Space'. After completion of Sonic Acts it will dissect countless other issues.

At the fall of darkness the messages of the Oracle appear on the windows of the first floor of De Balie at the Leidse Plein. 

www.oraclemachine.nl


About the Oracle Machine

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) Erik Borra, and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.

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