"What if death had an economic value?". This is the
question that Micromort answers by creating an award-winning
interactive installation, featured in Supersalone 2021.
Micromort is a speculative design project that challenges the notion
that all human lives are valued equally, particularly in death. Through
a fictional currency, Micromort assigns an economic value to each death,
calculated based on where it occurs. By combining the number of deaths
from non-natural causes, a nation’s GDP per capita, and its total
population, Micromort’s algorithm—Hades 2.0—highlights how social,
economic, and humanitarian conditions create stark disparities in the
perceived value of life across the globe. Far from trivializing loss,
Micromort provokes a critical reflection on the ways in which society
implicitly assigns worth to human lives, exposing uncomfortable truths
about inequality. The project’s central component, The Stock Exchange
Experience, transforms these ideas into an interactive installation that
immerses users in a world where death is commodified and traded, forcing
them to grapple with the unsettling realities of global disparity.
PLAY
At the heart of Micromort is The Stock Exchange Experience, an
expansive, interactive installation that visualizes the global
inequalities in the value of death. Spanning 16 monitors, a
touch-screen interface, and 8 meters of LED panels, the installation
presents more than 21,000 data points on deaths and catastrophes from
2000 to the present day. Users can explore a temporal journey through
global tragedies—wars, pandemics, and natural disasters—via dynamic
graphs, breaking news, and comparative statistics.
Data flows rapidly across the screens, mimicking the relentless pace
of stock exchange trading. Fluctuations in Micromort’s value, based on
historical and present-day data, immerse users in the overwhelming
scale and complexity of global inequality. The installation creates a
visceral experience, with information presented in line charts, bar
graphs, and ranked tables, offering users insights into how the price
of death varies from country to country.
The touch-screen interface allows a personalized exploration of the
data. Users can select a country from the globe or list, view trends
over time, or dive into case studies of significant global events. By
presenting this information interactively, the installation invites
reflection and dialogue about the commodification of life and death.
Micromort’s Hades 2.0 algorithm calculates the price of death for each
country based on three variables: the number of deaths from external
causes, GDP per capita, and population. These inputs allow for
precise, nation-specific values that starkly illustrate the unequal
weight placed on human lives depending on geopolitical and economic
contexts.
Hades 2.0 is designed not to predict the future but to reframe the
present, turning data from historical and contemporary tragedies into
a speculative currency. This approach adheres to the speculative
design philosophy articulated by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby:
“unsettle the present rather than predict the future.” By quantifying
death, the project provokes reflection on the systemic inequalities
shaping our world.
The physical installation is a 1.8-meter-tall, five-sided totem
covered in 16 screens, a touch-screen monitor, and LED strips,
creating a 360° immersive experience. Developed with Arduino,
BrightSign, and a desktop computer, the installation’s synchronized
visuals present data in a format that recalls the aesthetics of a
stock exchange. Videos include comparative graphs, historical
timelines, breaking news on global tragedies, and rankings of nations
based on Micromort fluctuations.
The installation was first exhibited at TheLostGraduationShow during
the 2021 SuperSalone in Milan, where it attracted over 1,000 visitors
and gained media attention. User testing with 25 volunteers prior to
the event enabled iterative improvements, ensuring a seamless and
impactful experience.
The COVID-19 pandemic provided a striking contemporary context for
Micromort. Hades 2.0 analyzed the pandemic’s impact on the value of
death, revealing stark contrasts between nations. While the pandemic
became a central focus for wealthier nations, countries already
grappling with chronic humanitarian crises—such as Syria or Libya—saw
little change in their Micromort value. In some regions, the price of
death remained lower than the cost of a single face mask, emphasizing
the brutal inequalities in how death is valued worldwide.
This analysis is presented within the installation, offering
comparisons between pandemic-era deaths and their societal cost. Users
can explore these disparities in detail through the interactive
touch-screen, creating a thought-provoking lens through which to view
the pandemic and its global impact.
Micromort is not designed to provide solutions to inequality but to
provoke critical reflection on its existence. By quantifying the
unquantifiable—death—it reveals the deep-seated disparities in how
societies value human life. Through its immersive data visualization
and speculative currency, Micromort confronts viewers with the
uncomfortable reality that all deaths are not treated equally,
challenging them to question the systems that perpetuate such
inequalities.
As a speculative design project, Micromort bridges art and design,
leveraging data and storytelling to unsettle perceptions and spark
dialogue. Its relevance endures, providing a lens through which to
view contemporary crises, from wars to pandemics, and their unequal
human toll.