‘A Digital Suicide’ is the term that refers to the elimination of one’s information online – namely social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter.
The project undertaken over the past year and a half, has been the documentation of Liam Scully’s Facebook ‘Digital Suicide’. When you commit “digital suicide” on Facebook, they offer you the opportunity to download your data, just in case you wish to return as you once were. Every single interaction, like, poke, post and private conversation exists inside this data file, pouring over your data will cause both fascination and concern, ” but those conversations were deleted years ago?” so you thought, however it is all there; plain as data. As well as the data, there are photographs, hundreds, possibly thousands, every one you ever posted to facebook, including the ones you deleted.
Liam Scully has embarked on a project over the past year and a half, to reclaim that data, it was important for him to do this in a personal, tiresome, physical way. Every page of meta-data has been printed onto sheets of pink thermal electrocardiograph paper, every photograph ever posted has then been recorded through Liam Scully’s physical act of drawing, collage, mark, rubbing out, spillage and stain; thus rendering the digital analogue and permanent.
The culmination of this body of work, has always been to make a book. A massive book at that, one that is heavy and awkward to hold, but crafted and beautiful. A limited edition of just 3 was an important way of distilling that once vulnerable, personal data, and furnishing it into something of quality and value.
You are invited to the “WAKE” on Friday the 13th November, to celebrate Liam Scully’s life on facebook 2008 – 2013.
We will have the book on display for viewing as well as a limited edition book, “In Loving Memory”, an obituary by friend and art writer Elizabeth Homersham.
A Digital Suicide has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
