The Oracle is a poetic and futuristic immersive performance-ritual that explores the deep entanglement between human beings, technology, and (AI-generated) image culture. An 360 degree enclosing panorama of screens serve as both sensors and oracles: they reflect and reshape your perception of yourself, your body and an elusive ‘humanness’. AI-generated images seduce and challenge, while droid performer and the eerie presence of a system guide a collective journey in which participants balance between moral choices and passive surrender. Physical rituals, moments of group censorship, and shared decisions determine the course.While technology takes a central role, the experience remains deeply personal, confronting visitors with moments of vulnerability, intimacy, and catharsis.
Inspired by Buddhist and Indigenous Latin American philosophies, The Oracle questions the Western ideal of the autonomous individual. Instead, it opens a vision of identity as something fluid, shaped by larger systems of which we are a part. Not just another AI show, but a ritual of collective experience: a unique piece confronting fears while seducing with sensual non-human visions of the future. Symbolic, embodied, and emotionally resonant.
*This experience lasts 75 minutes. Please arrive 10 minutes beforehand.
This programme is accessible for a maximum of one wheelchair per performance.
Full credits
Artist: Victorine van Alphen
AI-researcher: Valentin Vogelmann
3D Artist: Jacco Kooistra
Production: Naomi van Dijck
Immersive Setup: Bram Snijders & IDlab
Performance: Esther Noyon
Music: Merlijn Nash
Sound: Giel van Geloven
Advisors: Berthe Spoelstra, Nienke Huitinga & Yannick Noomen
Technical Team: Katia Landman and Bram Buijs
Made possible in part by Creative industries Fund NL Immerse\Interact and the Netherlands Film Festival
In collaboration with IDlab “Poetic laboratory for digital technologies.”, part of The Academy of Theatre and Dance, Amsterdam.
Special thanks to the Research Group Netherlands Filmacademy
The Oracle: Ritual for the future' emerges from research conducted within the framework of the NFF Fellowships Programme 2024–2025
