Oracle Index. Nestor Siré & Steffen Köhn

Set in a speculative Havana infused with the crypto culture of the 2030s, Oracle Index is an expanded cinematic narrative in the form of an imaginary ethnography. It envisions a Cuba that, under intense geopolitical pressure, adopts “futarchy” —a system of governance based on prediction markets, emerging from the same transhumanist milieu that gave rise to cryptocurrencies— as the foundation of its late-stage planned economy. Ideology defines the ends, global speculators determine the means, and those excluded from official platforms respond by inventing parallel betting cultures: rerouting state data streams into La Bolita, Cuba’s historic underground lottery, decoding outcomes through La Charada and the oracles of Santería, and expanding these traditions with digital tools. This narrative unfolds through a kaleidoscopic series of archival fragments drawn from the personal collection of an anonymous anthropologist, comprising interviews, intimate field notes, recordings from Cuban state television, excerpts from social media, and dream diaries of underground La Bolita players.

This conference and project presentation is part of the OpenLAB of LAB 4: Weird Futures

Nestor Siré is a Cuban multimedia artist based in Havana and Amsterdam whose transdisciplinary research explores how technological infrastructures shape everyday social life—and, in turn, how they are shaped by it. Drawing from anthropology, network studies, and critical media theory, he translates the informal circuits and vernacular hacks of the Global South into interactive installations, digital platforms, and site-specific interventions. His projects have been presented at institutions such as the New Museum, The Photographers’ Gallery, MUAC, and major international biennials.

Steffen Köhn is a filmmaker, video artist, and associate professor at Aarhus University. Working across cinema, art, and ethnography, he explores alternative infrastructures and survival strategies in today’s uneven sociotechnical worlds. Combining experimental ethnography, STS, and fiction, his works appropriate emerging technologies and the aesthetics of DIY networks and video games. His films and installations have been shown at major venues including Berlinale, Aksioma Institute, Kunsthaus Graz, and The Photographers’ Gallery London.