Reclaimed Telefónica payphone becomes AI voice of Earth at Sónar+D

At Sónar+D 2026 in Barcelona's Llotja de Mar, Divina Machina and QS Ventures presented '2147: A Voice from the Future', an interactive installation that repurposes an early-2000s Telefónica payphone into an AI communication device. The original housing and signage remain unchanged; internally, a Raspberry Pi 5 connects via Wi-Fi to the ElevenLabs platform, enabling real-time voice conversations with an AI character representing Earth. Visitors lift the handset and speak without screens or menus. During the festival, the installation recorded 681 conversations (about 15 hours of interaction). Of 505 complete exchanges, only nine participants asked if they were speaking with a human or AI. Instead, visitors asked the AI its name 289 times and frequently inquired about its identity. About one in seven expressed empathy or offered comfort. When the AI laughed, many participants laughed in return. The project was first shown at Milan Design Week 2025. Lead designer Cris Olmedo developed the work for QS Ventures' digital art branch Divina Machina.