Into the Future

*“Today - 13 years ago”*

On the rare occasions I log into Facebook these days, I’m always caught off guard by those memory panels that appear at the top of the home page. They bring up moments from years ago, long forgotten by me, yet somehow preserved in the digital ether. Often, this sends me down a rabbit hole, where I scroll through my past words and wonder at how much has changed, both myself and the world. It’s a strange mix of nostalgia and concern, realizing that everything I’ve forgotten still exists somewhere, in some form, out there.

You.zip (2024) began as a conversation between JJ and I about digital identities and how much of ourselves lives online. If an AI were to analyze all the data points I’ve scattered across the internet, what kind of person would it think I am? What meaning do memories carry if I can't even recall them myself? And what about the pieces of me that have never touched the internet, as I’ve grown more selective about what I share? All the data that defines ‘me’—I can download it as a .zip file. But does it really capture who I am? Perhaps it does define me, to acquaintances, to AI, who knows what else?

The work was displayed from Sep 27-29 at the Whitespace Gallery in Edinburgh, as a part of the *Into the Future* exhibition, co-curated by Anita Gao & Jiarong Yu.

-- Xin, 2024