PIETRO FORINO

Micromort
death-based currency

Medium
Interactive Installation
Role
Interaction Designer
Year
2020
Deliverables
"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.
null - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

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.

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

Press and awards

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

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.

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino
undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

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.

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

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.

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino

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.

undefined - Micromort: death-based currency | Pietro Forino