This work uses IBM Watson Development Cloud’s natural conversation processing technology and expressive text systems developed at the IBM Research laboratory in Brazil to recreate dialogues taken from the novel Dom Casmurro, by Machado de Assis (1839-1908). In order to give more life to the conversations, transparent visions of the characters Capitu, Bentinho and Escobar occupy the space by means of cybernetic actors. The eternal question that permeates the novel – did Capitu betray Bentinho? – can be asked of an artificial intelligence with undertow eyes. There remains, however, a doubt: are the characters aware of their own history beyond what Machado de Assis wrote?

Architecture and technology: Mauro C. Pichiliani Art assistant: Haylla Conde Sound design and soundtrack Jom Monnazzi Technical assistant Victor Boa Juliani