In Jitterbug Perfume, Tom Robbins refers to the idea that gods “live” as long as there are people who remember and believe in them. When people cease to believe or pay attention, the gods “fade” and disappear. Conversely, when humans invest in a concept, object, or symbol, they effectively “create” a deity.
Just as gods are human inventions, so too is technology. Visitors to the oracle of Dodona inscribed their questions to Zeus and Dione on thin lead sheets—the oracle tablets. Today, we no longer carve our questions; we type them, interacting directly with machines endowed with artificial intelligence. While the medium and process have changed, the human need remains the same: in both cases, humans reach out to something beyond themselves, something “higher,” a know-it-all entity to help solve a problem by providing the necessary answers or information.
We now inhabit a post-digital era, where digital technology is ubiquitous, like oxygen. We seem to live in a technocratic age dominated by rationality and logic, increasingly encroaching upon the imaginary, the spiritual, and the “magical.” Within this context, AI systems such as ChatGPT have become the modern personal oracle tablets, through which we attempt to communicate with our contemporary “gods.”
The work digital_oracle is an assemblage-based artistic proposition situated at the intersection of conceptual art, text, and ready-made. It reflects on the relationship between humans, technology, and the spiritual world in the present moment.
It was exhibited in the group exhibition “Eἰ λώιον καὶ ἄμεινον ἔσται.” At the Archaeological Museum of Ioannina, in 2026. Curated by Yannis Kokkalis and Evdokia Karagiannopoulou.
