The Chiromancer

Palm reading, otherwise known as palmistry or chiromancy, is practiced all over the world, with roots in Indian astrology and Romani fortune telling. The objective is to evaluate a person's character or future by studying the palm of their hand. London has recently seen an explosion in high street palm readers and astrologers, which may be symptomatic of economic and existential uncertainty, or indeed the failure of our highly mediated urban environment to provide coherent answers to our most deep-seated questions.

The Chiromancer installation will represent a digital implementation of these ancient and culturally diverse divinatory practices, one that is rooted in the embodied and diverse nature of human experience.

Work description

The Chiromancer will be an installation for embodied readings of heart, head, life and fate. The portable hardware unit will use computer vision to generate an interactive experience of ancient predictive technologies. By analyzing hands the system will be able to make a series of readings, including information about physical activities that are best suited to each visitor. The Chiromancer will first invite visitors to place their palms on a smooth service, this will be scanned by an internal camera enabling the system to identify the four major lines on the human hand, which are:

(1) The heart line.

(2) The head line.

(3) The life line.

(4) The fate line (though not everybody has this).