I died on Facebook

I died on Facebook

I died on Facebook is an artwork that explores the notion of our virtual selves in an increasingly digital world.

Through the gamification of death, the work prompts us to contemplate the impact of our immaterial selves on our physical lives. As we increasingly shift our activities and interactions online, we must consider the fate of our digital counterparts when we die. Do they exist indefinitely, or do they perish too?

The implications of digitization

The work consists of a VR (Virtual Reality) game experience set in a cemetery, where digital tombstones are named after real deceased people, whose Facebook profiles have been memorialised by their loved ones. The project was realised by means of a Python coded Facebook scraper, which collects the names of the memorialised profiles on the Social Media, and a Javascript code, that interacts with the gaming platform Minecraft building the graves and the cemetery environment.

The interactivity of the installation allows visitors to interact differently depending on whether they experience it on the Internet or on-site, enabling a multi-layered engagement with the work. On site, the visitor can engage as a player, and actively interact with the virtual environment, or as an observer, seeing other participants enjoy the experience. Online, the interaction appropriates the multiplayer dynamic, typical of the game universe, to transport the work to an open, community-based, and collaborative environment, making it accessible via server hosting. In the current context of discussions about the metaverse and the potential of immersive digital environments, I died on Facebook is more relevant than ever.

Through the gamification of death, the artwork raises critical questions about the 3 of 6 implications of our digitised habitat, the impact of our immaterial selves on our physical lives and the potential consequences of prioritising our online personalities.