by Fatma Nur Özogul & Florian Weinrich

2024
Interactive Fortune Generator
Microelectronics, LED lights, Raspberry Pi, Thermal printer, case box

Lucky Printer is an interactive artwork that generates instant comments and predictions on viewers’ future based on fortune-telling, luck and forecasting strategies, with an unlucky twist. The generated fortunes are created in balance (and contrast) to the community background of the intended viewers and are highly seasoned with a mixture of irony, sarcasm, and stereotypical expectations on future – and a little hope.

Through the process of experience, the LED Roulette is the first interaction for the viewer after pressing the only button (choice of action) provided. The raw, buzzing sound is intended to evoke the feeling of the old digital, and the trigger the excitement of what is about to happen. Although the roulette symbolises a randomised luck, the viewer is confronted with a random selection from a pre-planned list of fortune lines. The expectation of luck, fortune and prediction depends on the pre-set list the artist has prepared for the audience; leaving the present and future of the destined viewers to a common possibility of relative prediction.

The project consists of microelectronic hardware built by the artist, a software running on a Raspberry Pi developed by Florian Weinrich, and a thermal POS printer that communicates through the hardware and software.