Exhibition 'Data Never Dies' in IMPAKT Centre for Mediaculture
What happens to the data we leave behind?
Instagram profiles continue to haunt the internet after their owners have passed away. Forgotten messages train AI, and deepfakes give our bodies digital double lives, without our consent and beyond our control. No matter how fleeting they may seem, a photograph, message, search query, profile or avatar always leaves a trace.
In Data Never Dies, artists explore what happens to these digital traces. Together, they form our digital legacy: fragments of ourselves that are reused, recycled, continue to circulate or unexpectedly resurface. But who decides what is remembered or erased? What do we lose without meaning to, and what lives on beyond the promise of safe storage?
Through video, deepfakes, performance, photography and interactive installations, the exhibition reveals how personal data haunts platforms, clouds and AI systems. Encounter forgotten Sims that have taken on lives of their own, mourn your crashed laptop, do a data detox and wonder what remains of you online.
Featuring works by Amélie McKee & Melle Nieling, Charmaine Poh, Esther Hovers, Ginevra Petrozzi, Gjorgji Despodov, Janilda Bartolomeu, Joeri Boelhouwer, Kyriaki Goni, playField and Ruben Mols.
Curated by Rosa Wevers.
