[LIVING ARCHIVES] - Interrogating digital remains in the context of DNA data storage

Living Archives

Details
DNA Data Storage, UI/UX Design and research

Client
GYOC (Grow Your Own Cloud) + Marcin Rusak Studio

Date
Summer 2022

Mentor
Cyrus Clarke + Monika Seyfield

Team
Laura Saltzer + Manini Banerjee

Digital Remains [noun] - The archive of digitized material left after a person passes away

We are increasingly leaving behind a larger and larger digital footprint when we die. There is limited legislation of what happens to this data, usually ending up in the hands of large corporations.

Living Archives aims to offer an alternative way to represent Digital Remains, removing them from environmentally destructive data servers and propose new ways we can experience precious memories through data

How can we interrogate digital remains in the context of DNA data storage?

The temporary and perpetual imprints, both direct and indirect, of our lives and existence that are present in digital forms on the internet, in the cloud, or coded into other extractable sources”
- J H Harrington

We wanted to study and create new practices for this space that are in tune with the irreverent rituals of physical remains

The following series of graphics illustrates information regarding DNA data storage as well as its ethics

Ultimately, digital remains can either exist as live artefacts or be immortalized through encapsulation within resin in various forms.

The entire system exists through an odering service as the “Ephemeral Memorial organisms” webpage. Through this means, the user is guided through the process of creating a living archive either for themselves or for a passing loved one.

Above, view various user choices as well as chosen organisms who are strong candidates for DNA data storage: Poplar trees, rice plants, Nicotina Benthamiana, and Arabidopsis Thaliana.

Ultimately, we collated methods for user friendly decoding for the artefact and accessing the stored data

Samples of information that can be archived