An early-2000s payphone turns into an AI communication device
2147: A Voice from the Future is an interactive installation by Divina Machina, the digital art and design studio of designer and engineer Cris Olmedo and Qs Ventures, presented during Sónar+D 2026 at Llotja de Mar in Barcelona. Following its previous presentation during Milan Design Week 2025, the project repurposes an original Telefónica payphone from the early 2000s, transforming an obsolete telecommunications object into an interface for real-time conversations with an artificial intelligence that speaks from the perspective of the Earth.
The installation is based on an original Telefónica public telephone, retaining its existing housing, signage, and physical characteristics. Rather than altering the appearance of the object, the intervention is concentrated within its internal components. A Raspberry Pi 5 communicates via Wi-Fi with the ElevenLabs platform, enabling voice interaction through a custom-developed AI character. The interface remains intentionally minimal: visitors lift the handset and engage in an unscripted conversation without screens, menus, or visual prompts.
The AI responds in real time as a fictional representation of the Earth, allowing visitors to initiate conversations without predefined topics or dialogue paths. By combining a familiar analogue object with contemporary voice technology, the installation examines how obsolete communication devices can acquire new functions while maintaining their original material identity.
all images courtesy of Divina Machina and Qs Ventures unless stated otherwise
Can familiar communication devices be reinterpreted through AI?
For its presentation at Sónar+D, the installation was reconstructed around a genuine Telefónica payphone, situating the work within a festival dedicated to digital culture, electronic music, and emerging technologies. During the exhibition, the installation recorded 681 conversations representing approximately fifteen hours of spoken interaction. Of 505 complete exchanges, only nine participants asked whether they were speaking with a human or an artificial intelligence. Instead, visitors largely engaged with the voice as a conversational presence, asking its name 289 times and frequently directing questions toward its identity rather than its technological nature. Approximately one in seven participants asked how the voice was feeling, expressed empathy, or offered words of comfort. When the AI laughed during conversations, many participants responded with laughter, demonstrating reciprocal social interaction despite the absence of a visible interlocutor.
Through the reuse of an obsolete public telephone and the integration of contemporary AI technologies, 2147: A Voice from the Future explores the relationship between communication, technology, and environmental awareness. The installation, developed by creative innovation studio QS Ventures and its digital art branch studio Divina Machina, positions the payphone as both a historical artifact and an interactive interface, examining how familiar communication devices can be reinterpreted through artificial intelligence to encourage new forms of dialogue about the relationship between humans and the planet.
a visitor picks up the original handset inside the reclaimed phone booth | image by Gianluca Battista
2147, an obsolete Telefónica payphone rebuilt as a living communication object | image by Santi Puig
a visitor speaks through the original handset, with no screen, only a live voice on the other end of the line
the installation drew visitors and passersby, turning the act of making a phone call into a public performance
people gather around 2147 at Sónar+D, waiting to enter a phone booth that should no longer work
