Virtual waste – an immaterial waste that is just a click away. Neatly curated in our computers, drives and servers, virtual waste is ever-expanding and aching for more meaningful methods of care. In this catalogue lives 15 disregarded projects. They were once formed of digital assets and corresponding email threads. Rejected to the depths of my virtual bank of assets, they now come to life in material form. This catalogue is a final act of care to these immaterial materials where they can converse amongst one another and inhabit the materiality of our world as a final homage.
This research-creation project presented the opportunity to think, make and develop methods that live beyond the final artifact while also mobilizing attention on a socio-environmental issue. My position as a graphic designer led me to explore virtual waste as an integral issue linked to my practice. Through my research questions and methods of research exploration, I proposed a project in conversation with the discourse of virtual sustainability.
The project culminated in a memorial catalogue that breathes new life into 15 disregarded digital projects, transforming virtual waste into tangible artifacts. Each project, composed of digital assets and their corresponding email threads, was reimagined using a combination of artificial intelligence and creative design tools. Email threads were converted into narrative obituaries using ChatGPT, leveraging its stochastic qualities to craft poetic and reflective tributes. Digital assets were abstractly reinterpreted through distortion tools in Adobe Photoshop, giving visual form to their overlooked histories. The final catalogue materialized these immaterial remnants in print, produced by a local print shop, as a gesture of care and homage.
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