I Don’t Exist: Aesthetics of Virtual Expropriation

Abstract

Existing in virtual global networks poses questions on how subjects can main- tain agency within them. The shift of digital networks into compartmentalized locked-in platforms facilitates the metamorphosis of subjects into the category of users. The ever-growing absence of a buffer zone between online and offline representation means that online highjacks become increasingly problematic. Currently, there is a rise in emerging efforts to transition bureaucratic citizenship into new modes of digital identity, such as the ID2020 project and other govern- mental projects seeking to implement digital ID in countries like Australia and Canada, or the digital ID proposed by the World Economic Forum. This shift, in some cases from a centralized state as guarantor to a decentralized allocation of identity allows easy verifiability and access to a multiplicity of services and personal data but also poses questions concerning these systems. This research aims to look at the different models of digital identity that are being developed, thinking about their implications. Researching in an art context, the goal is to develop a speculative project related with digital ID and expropriation, reflecting upon the assetisation of identity. The goal is to think through different theories to explore agency within virtual global networks distributed in planetary-scale assemblages of subjects and technological infrastructures.