-> Remember Me Digitally

Art Research Based Exhibition, 2020
Tools: Python, mySQL database, Raspberry PI, 360 camera & VR headset, Digital fabrication, Arduino 
To all of us: the future bereaved and the future deceased.
Collaborator: Xinyi Gao, Zhichen Wang


Details:
With digital lives extending beyond our physical ones, fundamental topics of humanity such as death, loss, grief, and mourning have been increasingly transferred to and negotiated in digitized media environments. This artistic research based exhibition project is an observation of death in this digital age as well as an envisage of future death. To what extend can technology help to / do we want to memorize our beloved ones after their death? How might people who have died maintain a digital identity that preserves their integrity and desires in this life?

Stage 1: For the Deceased - occurrence of death

two personal phones, a hospital computer, a TV, speakers

Through these digital media, the dead maintain a presence in the lives of the living. The dead often remain our Facebook friends, as contacts on our phone, or as search results in Google.            
----Arnold, Michael

While death in physical world suggests the biological death, the existence of the past traces of use like posts on social media continues the user’s social life. For social platform, the dead become extreme users rather than non-users. Hence, unlike in physical world, there is no longer a separate “space for living” in digital world.

Stage 2: For the Bereaved - Preservation of Memory

a usb and a digital photo frame, a website, a VR video

Virtual worlds and digital games like World of Warcraft also now play host to memorials and commemorative ceremonies, whilst several novel digital products, such as memorial holograms and services that enable social media posts to be made in the name of the dead long after death, are emerging.
----Arnold, Michael 

The possible interactions between the deceased and the bereaved are redefined by these new technologies. Memorial becomes more of a public practice in the digital world. The most common may be to keep leaving messages under one’s social media account. There are also dedicated memorial websites where the bereaved can light candles and leave notes. Other ways of interaction also include funeral ceremony in game world, reunion in visual reality, and etc.

Stage 3: For the Death Industry - Digital Legacy Service Booth

an interactive service booth

Despite the amount of digital legacy one may have, much more attention are put on legacy in the traditional physical form. According to a report of the Digital Legacy Association in 2017, 84.8% of the surveyed population have never made any plans for their social media accounts following their death. How should a system respond if its intended user is dead? What are some new tools that enables better contextualization of digital belongings for particular groups and passage to receivers in more elegant and meaningful ways?