When Harold Hodges and I were finishing the technical system, Rauschenberg put  together the five sculptures that make up Oracle from objects he found in the streets. The  pieces consist of a car door mounted on a typewriter table; a tub with an air conditioning  duct through which water flows with a small wire basket attached to the tub by a chain; a  window frame attached to another long duct; an exhaust pipe on large wheels; and a large  aluminum staircase which houses the control unit. I had ordered the aluminum staircase  according to Bob’s specs, and he added other objects to it. Bob located the speakers in  each piece so that the piece had its own unique sound.  
 Oracle was shown at Leo Castelli Gallery, on May 15, 1965. To avoid the feeling of a  gallery, Rauschenberg covered the floor with a black rubber mat. The five pieces were  placed throughout the front room of the gallery and the viewers could walk freely among  them.