Funder: This work was originally commissioned by NESTA in 2016 for the FutureLove strand of FutureFest. It has since been supported and commissioned by the Wellcome Trust/ CarnegieUK, the ESRC Festival of Social Science and The Cyprus High Commission.

Team: Stacey Pitsillides (Northumbria University); Vision Redbridge Culture & Leisure – Redbridge Libraries (VRCL); Newcastle City Library.

Timeframe: 2016-

https://loveafterdeath.co.uk/

Love After Death is a touring installation that questions how futuring technologies and aesthetics augment our relationship to end-of-life planning? It invites the public to explore past, present, future and far future options for their embodied and digital legacies. By creating diegetic prototypes that tangibly explore the relationship between technology, creativity and death this project uses artistic research in diverse social venues like libraries as an innovative model of public engagement.

The project aims 1.) to investigate how speculative design can be democratised as a tool to engage diverse communities in conversations about death and dying 2.) to develop innovative ritual practices that question current top-down approaches to a legacy planning, giving people agency in conversations with funeral directors 3.) to integrate live public prototyping that draw the public into forming research questions and outcomes.

The installations have been covered by QUARTZ, Culture File and Trend Bible. In 2017 it was shortlisted for the ‘Best Death Related Public Engagement Event’ by the Good Funeral Awards. Redbridge Library also won the social category of the EDGE2019 Awards for The Final Party, where Love After Death was a core partner.