In American Reflexxx the artist Signe Pierce is violently pushed to the
ground. The mob circles and laughs until one guy steps in, bends down while
smoking his cigarette and says This the wrong place to die. Is he referring
to the boardwalk at Myrtle Beach where the footage was shot or foreshadowing hateful comments on YouTube where the video lives today? “The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply
that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto*
good.” This leaked memo from Facebook goes on to say “maybe it costs a life by
exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack
coordinated on our tools.” Death is built into the very infrastructure of the network, managed by those in
power. Those of us underrepresented and underserved
are historically distrustful. So it's no surprise to learn that our online selves are being mined by the very system and managers that propagandize good will. The artists presented here for This the wrong place to die: the end of network culture may be powerless but they question technological manifest destiny through imagined and real expressions of death. Photos courtesy in order of top to bottom Signe Pierce & Alli Coates, Porpentine, HOUSING for American Artist, Jenyu Wang, Mishka Henner, and Nasime Sabz.
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