Pigeon Fool - Bondi Festival

Can you trust that a stranger’s voice is actually their own? Do you really know if a treasured memory is from your nearest and dearest, or your closest GPT friend? What do we have left that can’t be simulated, recreated or taken away by the machines?

The earliest known robot was a steam-powered pigeon created in 400BC. It was said to have been successful because it fooled the birds to believe it was one of their own. Since the days of the steam-powered pigeon, our robots have become increasingly human. The birds were fooled — are we?

From the makers behind the critically acclaimed ‘Truthmachine’, comes a new interactive tabletop theatre experience of equally dystopic proportions. Developed in collaboration with AI experts at Soulbotix, ‘Pigeon Fool’ blends cunning algorithms and virtual beings, to put its audience to the test.

In a world where robots are becoming more human, and humans are becoming more robotic, what does it take to truly declare our own humanness — and will anyone believe you?

Phone your friends, ask for a hint, and do your best not to be eliminated while the AI inches ever closer to becoming one of us…

‘Pigeon Fool’ is presented to Bondi Festival 2026 by Counterpilot (@counterpilot)

About the artists

Counterpilot is an award-winning collective of interdisciplinary artists based in Magandjin (Brisbane, Australia). Together, we create unique and immersive arts experiences – activating audiences with new technology, rich design, and transmedia storytelling. Counterpilot seeks to transform the familiar, juxtaposing rich fictional worlds against a backdrop of the everyday. We seek to provoke refreshed perceptions through acts of trouble, mischief and low-key chaos. We play in the space between people, and we poke at the tensions that bind us. Counterpilot is directed by Nathan Sibthorpe, with core creatives Christine Felmingham & Mike Willmett, and producer Nicholas Southey.