The Right to Be Forgotten
Mixed-media installation, Ars Electronica
An interactive public experience that questions everyday data collection and explores what it means to delete an online identity - inspired by biomimicry and the defence strategies of the tropical boxfish.
The original concept of the Right to be Forgotten project and the fictional Boxfish privacy device was first presented at the campus of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design as the MA graduation project of interaction designer Viktoria Biki. It was later showcased at one of the largest media art festivals, Ars Electronica in Linz in 2024, in the Futurescence gallery, among a selection of the best projects from MOME University.
The concept won recognition in the Graduation Projects 2024, being shortlisted among the best design diploma projects of that year across the Visegrad Fund (V4) countries: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. As a result, the Boxfish privacy-protecting device was exhibited at Cieszyn Castle as well as at the Lodz Design Festival, one of the region's most renowned design events.
The business idea born from this original concept later received the Jumpp Inspire Award in Frankfurt and became the foundation for what is now known as Boxfish Labs.
The concept
The Right to be Forgotten is questioning the existing data collection practices where the excessive sharing of personal data is a technological norm. It explores the options for deleting one's online identity from the cyberspace. Inspired by biomimicry, the concept draws parallels between the tropical boxfish's defence strategies and privacy protection mechanisms. Through interactions with hidden flows of digital footprints, we can observe how online choices shape our authentic digital identities. Can you truly disappear online in a future where AI might keep your virtual self alive? And can the solution be analog?
At exhibitions
Images: Łódź Design Festival, Ars Electronica
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