Systems & Structures

The Lumen Prize Systems & Structures category recognises works that examine or construct cultural, technological, ecological and social systems through approaches including code, data and networks.

Parallaxe was selected for its exploration of political communication as a designed system and for the role artificial intelligence can play within that structure.

Rather than treating AI as a standalone interface, the project looks at how algorithmic systems influence who encounters whom, how language is communicated and which interventions shape the course of a conversation.

Reversing the logic of algorithmic matching

Many digital platforms are designed to predict what people are likely to engage with and reinforce those preferences through increasingly personalised information environments.

Parallaxe deliberately reverses that logic.

Participants answer eight value-based political questions before an algorithm matches people whose positions differ most strongly. Instead of optimising similarity, the system uses political distance as the starting point for dialogue.

This matching process becomes part of the experience itself, raising a broader question around the role algorithms play in determining which perspectives we encounter.

AI as a mediation layer

Once participants enter the conversation, they sit opposite one another but communicate through an AI mediation system.

The system can translate between languages, reformulate emotionally charged statements, ask follow-up questions when arguments remain unclear and introduce source-based context for verifiable claims.

Where sufficient evidence is unavailable, the system is designed to withhold judgment rather than generate artificial certainty.

This creates an unusual interaction: participants remain physically present to one another while language, tone and context are partly mediated by an artificial system.

Designing the conditions of conversation

One of the central questions behind Parallaxe is whether neutrality can ever truly exist in mediation.

Any system that reformulates a statement, decides when to intervene or determines which information requires additional context inevitably influences the conversation.

For me, this makes AI mediation an interaction design problem as much as a technical one. The design of the system determines what becomes visible, when friction is reduced and where control remains with the participants.

Parallaxe therefore does not attempt to make the mediation layer invisible. Instead, the project uses the interaction itself to make the influence of technological systems on communication tangible.

From design research to working AI system

I developed the concept, system design and technical implementation of Parallaxe, bringing together interaction design, conversational AI and a multi-agent architecture within a working system.

The project has continued to evolve through public testing and collaboration with research institutions, allowing the underlying interaction model to be evaluated beyond the original design context.

This process reflects a broader part of my practice: moving between research, product and interaction design, and technical prototyping to understand emerging technologies through systems that people can actually experience.

Parallaxe at the V&A Digital Design Weekend

As part of the 2026 Lumen Prize finalist programme, Parallaxe will also be presented in a curated digital art screening at the V&A South Kensington during Digital Design Weekend on 19–20 September 2026.

The programme brings together Lumen Prize finalists whose work explores responsibility, technology and contemporary digital culture.