Mapping the Oblivion

Between frictionlessness and the right to be forgotten

Mapping the Oblivion researches the influence of data on human autonomy and the right to be forgotten in AI. The installation shows the impact of recommendations on our lives through the lens of Janssens family’s Netflix account and provokes questions about to what extent we want to quantify choices. “Will you only watch movies that are over 64% to your liking? Dine at restaurants that match your appetite above 76%. Date people whose compatibility is 89% or higher? Do you not pursue the career you want because it has a 12% chance of success? Do you want to outsmart your intuition with systems you do not understand and follow the map of probabilities and statistics? 

The right to be forgotten, is an EU right to request to delete one’s data. However, this right poses a multitude of challenges. The complexity of data-sharing infrastructures requires a new understanding of the right to be forgotten. Moreover, it raises the question of what it means to be forgotten in a world built on data. Do we want to live within the mere margins of algorithms, or can we escape them? Delete data? Dare to choose against the odds? Allow the unexpected? Embrace randomness? Achieve a state of oblivion.