8 Ball Sages is a new interactive digital work from genre-bending artist Ed Fornieles. His practice focuses on the way technology and the internet is reshaping our world, altering, interactions, desires and our identities.

Fornieles’ interdisciplinary approach is born out of the shifting mesh of the still nascent digital age. As technology develops so too must the approach of the artist working to decipher and engage with the contemporary environment. After exploring social interaction and identity in projects like Dorm Daze and our relationship with data and market forces through 2020s Finiliars, Fornieles turns his attention to AI.

The 8 Ball Sages themselves are a group of AI driven, responsive, uniquely animated characters, imbued with the nostalgic inspiration of 80s Zoltan theme park fortune tellers and their namesake, the Magic 8 Ball. The influence of the Tamagotchi of the 90s, Microsoft’s office assistant Clippy, Neopets and even Fornieles’ own Finis are felt.

Like Finiliars, 8 Ball Sages are tied to live data streams. However, instead of influencing their well-being, these data inputs affect the Sages’ mood and, consequently, the wisdom they offer. Drawing a parallel with predictive occult practices that emphasise the impact of Solar, Lunar and planetary cycles, live feeds of weather information shape the overall tone of the Sages' advice.