Project
ABOUT THE PROJECT
‘User Not Found: Social Media as Immersive Performance’ is a research project based at the University of Reading which brings together theatre company Dante or Die with technology agency, Marmelo, Reading’s Film, Theatre & Television Department and the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath.
Experimental theatre company Dante or Die is devising a performance, User Not Found, in which the central character experiences bereavement and mourning via the digital traces of his dead partner on social media. Currently, the lives and memories of most people in developed countries are expressed and accompanied by their history of electronic communications, their social media interactions and their collections of data such as photographs, videos and music. The relationship between individuals and their social media lives becomes particularly challenging after death, and now, in the process of ageing, people are crafting their digital legacy as part of their preparation for their demise. They are reflecting on their identity and seeking to pass on a particular version of themselves. Dante or Die’s performance will focus on the relationship between life, death, identity and social media. It will engage audience members by using everyday social media technology and specifically an app developed by Marmelo Digital to immerse spectators in the performance.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
User Not Found: A new production by Dante or Die
Created by Daphna Attias, Terry O’Donovan & Chris Goode
In collaboration with Marmelo Digital
It’s the moment of your death.
There’s a magic button.
Do you delete your entire online legacy?
Or do you keep it – and leave the choice for someone else?
USER NOT FOUND is about our digital lives after we die. Dante or Die’s new play, created with pioneering theatre-artist Chris Goode, is performed in cafés across the country, where you’ll be handed a smartphone and a pair of headphones. Become a fly-on-the-wall to peer into the life of a man who is faced with keeping or deleting.
A story of contemporary grief unfolds through this intimate performance that gently interrogates our emotional dependence on our screens.
