'Funeral of the Future' Memorializes With Digital Footprints

'Funeral of the Future' Memorializes With Digital Footprints

LOS ANGELES — 

When a person dies in this age of social media, his digital imprint¹ may live on. One California artist is exploring how to use digital artifacts to create a futuristic funeral.

The process starts with a consultation² at the Hereafter Institute, an immersive artistic³ program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The Institute is part technology company and part funeral home. Participants in the consultation learn about how they can plan their digital afterlife.

"I have friends that have passed away and somehow their Facebook accounts remain alive, and so once a year when it’s their birthday, Facebook says, 'Wish so-and-so a happy birthday,' " resulting in a "kind of awkward, sad" situation, said Carolina Miranda, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times and a Hereafter Institute participant.

Interactive⁴ performances

Institute creator Gabriel Barcia-Colombo applied⁵ for a grant from the art and technology lab at LACMA and has been working on this project for the last year to examine what happens to a person's digital record when he dies. In collaboration⁶ with New York theater director Benita de Wit, Barcia-Colombo created a series of interactive performances that deal with death, technology and social media.

”This technology sort of has a life of its own, and the question is: How do you want to be remembered? What are you going to do with your technology? And do you want to take control of that, or do you want to sort of leave it up to these other corporations or other people to deal with your own memories?” asked Barcia-Colombo.

The participants of a Hereafter Institute consultation are shown necklaces with video images of a person in a locket as one way to store a person's data. They are also taken to a room with black monolith called the Hereafter Monument. On top is a vinyl record encoded with data through audio tones. With the help of technologist Pedro Oliveira, timelines of people’s profiles are placed on a record, and the data in the record are turned into text that appears on the side of the monument, as a way to remember a person who has died.

'Very moving' experience

By using audio, photos and videos, a virtual reality experience of Barcia-Colombo’s grandfather was created. With virtual reality, people can "visit" a person who has passed away.

“With all this data and all these video memories, we can really sort of think about how people moved, or reacted to jokes, or how they laughed, so to be able to see him walking again ... was very moving to me,“ said Barcia-Colombo.

"It would be a little bit difficult and disheartening to see a loved one," said Lucy Redoglia, a Hereafter Institute participant and LACMA’s social media manager.

"It’s not a perfect reproduction of the person. It’s still very digitized. There’s something a little cartoony about it," Miranda said. "So I think as a memorial it functions, but I don’t think it would ever be in danger of becoming something that you could almost grow attached to because it’s a replacement⁸ of the person."

Body scan

A participant also gets a 360-degree body scan. At the end of the consultation, the participant is led to a room to witness a personalized eulogy⁹ and video presentation, with an avatar created by the body scan walking into the distance.

The Hereafter Institute may be an artist’s creation, but participants say the ideas aren’t so farfetched, because digital memorials are already happening when someone dies.

"You want to go back and look at all their pictures and you want to write a message to their family," said Redoglia.

"These kinds of impromptu¹⁰ digital memorials exist, and I think what this is implying is that what is impromptu might one day be officialized," Miranda said. "And that would not be surprising to me. Would I want one of those memorials? I don’t know. I don’t even want a tombstone, so I don’t know if I need a digital memorial, but it is not out of the ken⁷ of possibility."

Barcia-Colombo said the aim of the program is to make people think about the possibilities and what they want to do with their digital footprints after death.

1 imprint   

n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记

参考例句：

• That dictionary is published under the Longman imprint.那本词典以朗曼公司的名义出版。
• Her speech left its imprint on me.她的演讲给我留下了深刻印象。

2 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

3 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

4 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

8 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

9 eulogy   

n.颂词；颂扬

参考例句：

• He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. 他不需要我或者任何一个人来称颂。
• Mr.Garth gave a long eulogy about their achievements in the research.加思先生对他们的研究成果大大地颂扬了一番。

10 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。