Léopold 2.0

Léopold 2.0 is an interactive portrait of King Leopold II, brought into conversation with visitors through a large language model supported by retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). The project invites visitors to question the historical figure about the Congo, colonisation and decolonisation.

As the exchange unfolds, Léopold II's discourse, position and posture shift. The portrait stages a confrontation between a historical persona and the present, asking how an accountable conversation with a colonial figure might be constructed—and what it means when an AI system speaks in that figure's voice.

The portrait experience

The intended installation uses a game engine such as Unreal Engine to create a responsive portrait and support natural voice conversation. The project is also planned to be accessible through a chatbot on the web.

The current prototype uses an ElevenLabs-powered voice shaped around Léopold II's psychological profile. The longer-term goal is to develop an open-source stack for the experience.

Comparing AI systems

A complementary interface lets visitors ask the same questions to different AI models and compare their responses. Differences in framing, refusal or omission make model bias and possible censorship visible, turning the AI systems themselves into part of the work's subject.

Status

Prototype in progress. The voice-based portrait is being prototyped; the online chatbot and a fully open-source stack are part of the longer-term direction.