Ann Lislegaard: Oracles, Owls... Some Animals Never Sleep
Oracles, Owls... Some Animals Never Sleep is a series of works by artist Ann Lislegaard created between 2012 and 2019. One of the works in the series, Oracles, Owls... Some Animals Never Sleep, Blue, is installed at House of Innovation on Norrtullsgatan. The work is a video animation featuring an owl acting as an oracle.
The Owl of Minerva 4.0: Knowledge and predictions in the digital age
In Roman mythology, the owl is associated with Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, and has long served as a symbol of knowledge and insight. In Ann Lislegaard’s work, the owl has been transformed into a digital entity. Voices, words, sounds, and fragments of language pass through its animated body, creating a hybrid figure shaped by technology, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
The work raises questions about how knowledge is produced in a society increasingly influenced by digital technologies. As machines take on more advanced roles in processing information, the work invites reflection on the relationship between human judgment and technological prediction.
Lislegaard describes the owl as an oracle. Historically, oracles were regarded as intermediaries between the divine and human worlds, yet their messages were often ambiguous and open to interpretation. In a similar way, the owl’s fragmented speech encourages viewers to question certainty, meaning, and authority.
The work can also be connected to science fiction and speculative thinking. Lislegaard has cited both Blade Runner and the writings of Philip K. Dick as important influences. The owl becomes a figure that blurs boundaries between human and machine, reason and intuition, prediction and uncertainty.
How did these works come about?
“A few years ago, I happened to see Blade Runner again while staying in a hotel in Amsterdam. Although I had seen the film before and read Philip K. Dick’s novel, this time I became fascinated by the owl. It made me think about the stories hidden within silent objects.
What if this creature were suddenly given a voice? What would it say?
My owl became an oracle. Like science fiction itself, it serves as a way of speaking about things that are otherwise difficult to express. It appears meaningful, yet remains elusive, existing at the edge of what we can understand.”
— Ann Lislegaard, interview with CFHILL
Oracles, Owls... Some Animals Never Sleep, Blue
Ann Lislegaard, 2012–2018
Video animation
Donation by Cecilia and Staffan Salén.