DEEP SOLUTIONS

DEEP SOLUTIONS is a VR installation that invites participants to plumb the depths of their online data doubles. Custom DEEP SOLUTIONS software extracts ad tracking profiles and location information from users’ Facebook data. Visitors to the installation are walked through the process of accessing their otherwise hidden data, which is transformed into a customized virtual world. Within the VR experience, a panoramic environment is generated from the location data that is passively stored when Facebook services are accessed from a mobile device, revealing the detailed level of tracking that many visitors may not be aware is occurring. Users interact with objects related to their advertising profiles, which often misrepresent users’ actual interests, identities and desires. The ghosts of information that users intended to forget – deleted posts and “unfriended” accounts – materialize as ghoulish data ghosts, a reminder that tracking systems insist on remembering even what we intend to forget. First conceived as an interactive version of our 2018 performance DEEP WEBSITE, DEEP SOLUTIONS is a personalized 7-10 minute VR experience that gradually leads the viewer into an uncanny underworld populated by forgotten memories, bizarre clickbait advertisements and excommunicated acquaintances.