Associate Professor Nick Bontrager collaborated with new media artist Matt Kenyon to create the award-winning interactive artwork, “Oracle.” Photo credit: Nick Bontrager
Art and technology converged at the 2023 Fine Acts Lab, where Associate Professor Nick Bontrager collaborated with new media artist Matt Kenyon to create the award-winning interactive artwork, “Oracle.” This dynamic event invites two-person teams of artists and technologists to prototype inventive solutions for climate justice, with one team earning a grant for further development.
Associate Professor Nick Bontrager
“Oracle” presents a talking flame emerging from a burning tire — a climate change oracle. Audiences participated by posing questions about environmental crises, tapping into a spectrum of perspectives from activists and climate experts integrated into the artificial intelligence platform. Bontrager and Kenyon’s goal was to challenge cynicism and amplify voices within the climate justice movement.
Upon receiving the grant, Bontrager and Kenyon developed a prototype sculpture of “Oracle,” debuting at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Now exhibited in Florida, strategically positioned near the Osborne Reef— an environmental disaster since 1974 — “Oracle” sparks essential discussions. The project continues to evolve through ongoing collaboration with climate experts and activists, using data to refine the sculpture’s interactive voice.
In a related initiative, Bontrager and Kenyon obtained funding for a new project — a talking dumpster fire. This endeavor aims to amplify the voices of community leaders and underserved communities, fostering crucial conversations leading up to the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.
Q&A with Bontrager
How did the opportunity arise to participate in the Fine Acts Lab and collaborate with Matt Kenyon?
Fine Acts Lab reached out to Matt and I based on his past TED Fellowship and our perceived suitability for the online Lab format, considering our prior research and work. I have exhibited work with Matt and have known him as a friend for many years, but we have never had the chance to collaborate on a project. So, this was a wonderful opportunity to work together in a new way!
How did your team develop the concept for Oracle?
We were given the task of developing a concept that would address the topic of climate justice and inspire change or action in a participant. Matt and I spent our time with this task thinking of how climate change has impacted us as individuals but also how it has manifested itself.
Matt recounted a pivotal moment from his youth when his grandfather shared an image of the Cuyahoga River engulfed in flames in 1969 due to years of industrial waste pollution. The images of this fire galvanized support for pollution control activities, eventually resulting in the Clean Water Act and the establishment of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. These powerful images that had inspired change were what we discussed as we prepared our concept; it led us to the connection of a flaming river as an oracle foretelling the future along with the colloquialism of a tire fire — a horrifying mess that seems to last forever.
Throughout your project’s development, the team received guidance from diverse mentors and experts. What specific advice or feedback proved most beneficial in shaping your concept?
The most valuable advice did not come from a single mentor or expert, but rather from hearing how communication, risk and the need for urgent action varied in the many fields represented among the participants. We took these calls for action in the direction of a drastic, necessary response: a tire that could eternally burn as the viewer looked on, while expressing a sentience that would perhaps inspire empathy and engagement.