THANATOS

Speculating the future of digital death, the rise of thanatechnology, and the sacrality of personal data.

Hosted by Adarsh Nellore

This project is now archived and was part of DDW21

Event type

Exhibition

Location

Strijp-S

Foundation We Are

Torenallee 22-04

5617BD

Thanatos

Adarsh Nellore

The Internet is a cemetery, preserving our personal data long after we die. By the end of the century, there will be more deceased users on social media than living, amounting to a digital afterlife. Will we have death rites for our digital remains?

How might we imagine Internet religions?

Digital media are starting to change our relationship with death. We post eulogies on the Facebook profiles of those who have passed. We remember them through Instagram and Youtube videos. Now, we are saying our contactless, remote goodbyes to our loved ones through FaceTime. Will large tech companies offer post-mortem services for their users? Thanatos is a robotically-enabled death rite ritual that transforms our personal data into physical artifacts for funerary practices, rendering personal data and digital profiles treasured lifelong possessions but ultimately ones that the user does not truly own.

Robotic Shrines

@Adarsh Nellore

Digital Ashes

Adarsh Nellore

End-of-Life Artifacts

Adarsh Nellore

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Hosted by

Adarsh Nellore
adarsh.nellore@network.rca.ac.uk
+14082078449
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About Adarsh Nellore

Adarsh Nellore is a multidisciplinary designer interested in speculative and experimental futures, using critical design to imagine alternative realities. He has recently graduated from MA, MSc Innovation Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London. More specifically, he is inspired by the transition between the digital and physical worlds and its implications on human biological and cultural evolution.