DNA Cemetery
Team Member Information
Surname: NG
Name: Hei Tung Michael
Nationality: Hong Kong
Institution: The University of Hong Kong
Surname: DONG
Name: SI Wah
Nationality: Hong Kong
Institution: The University of Hong Kong
Surname: LAU
Name: Yen Kiu Doris
Nationality: Hong Kong
Institution: The University of Hong Kong
| Title | – DNA Cemetery |
| Subtitle | – Reconnecting Family Trees By Digital Processing of the Dead |
| Hashtags | – #FindingRoot
– #SearchMyAncestry – #DNAncestry – #DigitalUrn – #RememberMe |
| Description | This project proposes an alternative of reconstructing the genealogical topography of the city, by decoding DNA sequencing of a deceased person remains. Death isn’t an end, but a continuation of the living – connecting lost family members for gathering and reunion.
Our portable digital urn allows an individual to understand his/her family history in different scale, e.g. cross-national scale for people of mixed ethnicity or complex immigration background. The design of DNA Cemetery takes advantage of everyone’s DNA sequence uniqueness to recreate a digital family tree database worldwide. After cremation, ashes are collected and analysed for its sequencing. The nucleobase code get decoded into binary code that can be translated into a digital signal.
Families can worship the deceased members not only in their home, but also in inflatable ceremony space installed in leftover areas (e.g. under bridges and flyovers), as a holistic, operational gathering space, softly lighting up for their deceased loved ones. Once it is occupied, an overview genealogical topography of the world is displayed, and a family-specific signal will be emitted within the neighbourhood searching for counterparts, passing on the memorial of their related ancestors. |