Media Object

Media Object : Oracle

Oracles have been used by civilizations and cultures throughout human history. In all corners of the planet, the desire to glean hints toward possible futures has been sought through ritual, ceremony and deification. Generally, the communication model for the practice of divining future events takes the form of a medium that receives messages, or directly views the future, then passes these messages onto the individual seeking council. Alternatively, objects can also act as the messaging system, ostensibly becoming charged with visions from the future, which then transmute this message into arcane symbols to be decoded by learned individuals who know the code. A generalization of the purpose of this type of ritual can be seen to give meaning, purpose and direction in an existence devoid of these characteristics, to overcome the apparent randomness and chaos that guides our universe. Through guiding a path through various divination rituals across human existence, I will end up in todays world, where notions of this type of ritual are placed into categories of novelty, however, many cultural theorists maintain a vision towards the future, and while not literally divining future events, I find in the theories of posthumanism a drive towards presupposing certain futures, which I hope to link to the classic oracular practice, and thusly towards my own.

The classic oracle in the western tradition is from the greek Delphi, [insert research here],.... Other examples of oracles include the

what is specific about this object?

1000 - 1500 words

what do you like / what did you pick? why picked that object? specificity of object: what distinguishes it from other objects? what is it interfacing / mediating? how does it relate to work / self-directed research?