Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí láti ọwọ́ Jiabao Li

Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí láti ọwọ́ Jiabao Li jẹ́ aṣẹ́gun olókìkí púpọ̀ ti 2021 Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Fàdákà A' Design Award nínú Ẹ̀ka Ìdíje Àpẹẹrẹ Ojú-ìwé Ayelujára.

FàdákàAyelujára· 2021

Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí

látọ̀wọ́ Jiabao Li

Oníbàárà: Jiabao Li

Aṣẹ́gun Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Fàdákà A' Design Award nínú Ẹ̀ka Ayelujára

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Aṣẹ́gun Àmì Ẹ̀yẹ Tí a Jẹ́rìísí

Jẹ́rìísí Ipò Àmì Ẹ̀yẹ fún #122354

Ṣàbẹ̀wò Ojú Òpó Wo ní A' Design Award Ìwé Ìròyìn Àmì Ẹ̀yẹ

Àwọ̀

Àpẹrẹ Náà

Nípa Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí

Ìdágbére Àìparí jẹ́ wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì ìrántí tí a dá sílẹ̀ láti fi ṣe ìrántí àwọn ènìyàn tí wọ́n kú nígbà àjàkálẹ̀ àrùn COVID-19. A fún ẹnìkọ̀ọ̀kan ní yàrá tirẹ̀ tí àwọn àbẹ̀wò lè wọ̀ inú rẹ̀. Nínú yàrá kọ̀ọ̀kan, àwọn àbẹ̀wò lè ka ìtàn ẹni tí ó kú àti àwọn ọ̀rọ̀ ìwádìí ìrànlọ́wọ́ tí wọ́n fi ránṣẹ́ ṣáájú ikú, wọ́n sì tún lè fi ọ̀rọ̀ sílẹ̀. Àwọn ọ̀rọ̀ tí àwọn ènìyàn fi sílẹ̀ ń léfòó nínú àyè náà. Àwọn àwòrán ẹ̀dá máa ń túká, wọ́n sì máa ń parẹ́ nígbà tí a bá fọwọ́ kàn wọ́n. A fi three.js kọ́ ètò patíkù náà, a sì fi p5.js kọ́ ọ̀rọ̀ tí ń léfòó náà. A kó ìsọfúnni jọ láti ọ̀dọ̀ àwọn ẹbí àti láti inú àwọn ìfìwéránṣẹ́ ti gbogbo ènìyàn.

Ìdánimọ̀ Náà

Nípa Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Fàdákà A' Design Award

Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí jẹ́ olùborí Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Fàdákà A' Design Award, ìdánimọ̀ onípọ̀nlé lọ́nà àrà ọ̀tọ̀ tí a fún àwọn àwòṣe ìpele gíga jùlọ tó dára tó sì ń kan ọkàn. Àwọn olùborí Fàdákà jẹ́ àwọn iṣẹ́ tó ń tàn yòò gidigidi tó sì ní ìṣẹ̀dá púpọ̀ tí wọ́n ń ṣàfihàn ìmọ̀ ìjìnlẹ̀, ẹ̀bùn àti ìmọ̀ràn àwọn olùṣàwòṣe wọn. A retí pé Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí yóò jẹ́ iṣẹ́ àgbàyanu, àpẹẹrẹ rere, ti ọ̀jáfáfá lọ́nà tó ṣe pàtàkì tó sì ní ìmúṣẹ̀dá tuntun jinlẹ̀. Àwòṣe tó borí Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Fàdákà A' Design Award yìí jẹ́ ohun ìmúṣẹ̀dá tó hàn gbangba gidigidi tí a mọrírì tó ń ṣe anfàní tó sì ń tì ààlà iṣẹ́ ọnà, sáyẹ́ǹsì, àwòṣe àti ìmọ̀-ẹ̀rọ síwájú. Unfinished Farewell Primary Function: Wẹ́ẹ̀bùsáìtì Ìrántí jẹ́ ẹ̀dá tí ọ̀pọ̀lọpọ̀ ń ṣe ìlara, tó ń jí ìfẹ́ inú, tó ń mú ìmọ̀lára rere wá tó sì ń jí ìyàlẹ́nu àti ìyanu.

Lẹ́yìn Àpẹrẹ Náà

Àkójọ Ìròyìn

Àwọn ẹ̀tọ́, àwọn ọmọ ẹgbẹ́ àti àlàyé ìmọ̀ ẹ̀rọ tí olùṣàpẹrẹ pèsè.

Àwọn Ohun Àkànṣe: Unfinished Farewell is an online space to commemorate the people who have left us because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When visitors enter each person's "tomb", they can see their stories and the help-seeking information they posted before they passed away, and leave a message.

There are various ways of visualizing the statistics of COVID, but none about individual’s story. This project provides one way for us to visualize and relate to death. Behind every number is a life.
Ìwọ̀n àti Àpò: Screen resolution
Àwọn Àkọlé: COVID-19, commemorate, platform, pandemic, digital tomb
Ìmọ̀-ẹ̀rọ Ìṣelọ́pọ̀: The particle system is written with three.js. The floating message inside each chamber is written with p5.js. We manually collected all the information of the deceased by contacting their families and from Weibo, to have a better understanding of each individual’s story.
Ìpèníjà Àpèsè: Website design: How to design the space to have a comparable feeling of visiting the physical tomb during a time that everybody has to stay at home. How to convey sorrow, grief, solemn, melancholy, mourning, and agony through a website interface and interactions.
Data collection: We collected the data through both algorithms and manually. We reached out to each person's family to gather information and their portraits. It was a very sad and tough communication process.
Surveillance: This project has been constantly surveilled by cyber police in China because any artworks related to the pandemic are considered "sensitive" topics. We set the server in the US to avoid being taken down by the "internet wall" in China. Our volunteers were harassed by police several times during the creation of this project.
Ìwádìí: As COVID-19 spreads across the globe and the number of deaths continues to rise, the heartbreaking experiences are being replaced by collective mourning. As German journalist and pacifist Kurt Tukholsky said: "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic".
When we look back at the help-seeking posts of those lost, those who waited to die because of unconfirmed testing; those whose death certificates were being tampered with; those who committed suicide out of despair; those non-COVID patients whose life-saving medical treatment was foregone… None of them were included in the death toll, and are likely to be forgotten over time. They didn’t have a fair medical treatment during their lifetime, and they were not mentioned after their death. The same is true for many frontline workers who lost their lives due to infection or overwork.
While connecting with families of those lost, one daughter asked: “After this pandemic, who can remember the pain of someone like my mother who had nowhere to seek medical treatment, was refused by the hospital, and died at home?" This is one of the reasons why we built this online platform, trying to document as many people who have left us because of the pandemic as possible. The website also includes the help-seeking information they posted before they passed away, which is the evidence they left to this era. We hope to provide a space for family members to release their grief and for the public to mourn.
Behind every number is a life.
Ìmísí: We designed the website this way so that when visitors enter this space, they can sense that sort of atmosphere: sorrow, grief, solemn, melancholy, mourning, agony. A comparable feeling that visitors can have as if they are physically visiting their tomb. This gives us much more understanding of death than the increasing statistics.
Àkókò Iṣẹ́ Àkànṣe: Duration varies, online
Ìlànà Ìṣiṣẹ́: Here we try to gather the portrait for each deceased. You’ve never met this person, but their portrait is right in front of you, but then you realized that they’ve passed away. As soon as your finger lingers on the person’s face, it scatters and vanishes. You haven’t have a chance to really get to know this person, they just fade away. I designed the website this way so that when visitors enter this space, they can sense that sort of atmosphere: sorrow, grief, solemn, melancholy, mourning, agony. A comparable feeling that visitors can have as if they are physically visiting their tomb. This gives us much more understanding of death than the increasing statistics.

Enter each individual’s space by clicking “Farewell”. You can see the help-seeking information they posted before they passed away. You can leave a message. All the messages people sent here will float in the space. Here are some messages we’ve received since publishing:

“Do I need to shout loudly to be noticed?”,
"The best memory of the deceased is not to lose memory in your lifetime”,
"RIP, I hope you can change your job if you become policeman again.”, (This is a message to a cyber police who passed away out of overwork for deleting sensitive messages on the internet. )
“Can’t understand, don’t understand”, (to the whistleblower Doctor Li Wenliang)
"Because of your existence, I will always learn to love humankind.”,
"I hope I can at least know your name, not just the unknown name, may you rest in peace”,
“Yancheng, after you leave, your dad and brother still push your wheelchair to eat together with you”,
"No freedom to speak, no freedom to die”.

Someone uploaded her grandmother's information who passed away to our website, and wrote how much she misses her: “Thank you, grandma, and thank you for seeing me as more than your life. Grandma, you must take care of yourself. Please rest assured and I will take care of this home. Grandma, I really miss you, Grandma, I love you.”

This project has been exhibited in OCAT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, 2020, “Let This Moment Be Transformative“, and Uncertainties: PRD Post-pandemic Contemporary Art Exhibition, Macao, 2020. South China Morning Post’s Inside China Tech podcast interviewed me about this project on the topic "How technology has changed the way we die and mourn”.
Àwọn Ọmọ Ẹgbẹ́: Concept & Direction: Jiabao Li, Laobai Wu
Design: Jiabao Li
Development: Sheng Wang, Wenying Wu, Min Zhu, Amo
Sound: Lu Wang (dk)
Ìfọwọ́sí Àwòrán: Jiabao Li