'i'm sorry you're gone'- interactive poscard installations

WORK IN PROGRESS

I recently started an artistic investigation called ‘Am I Dead?’ It is my goal to ask myself and others: am I/ are you dead or alive? How do you know really and truly? How do we define and describe life and legacy, and how is our world shaped by our perception of reality, life, death, and existence? How does science, philosophy, personal belief, literature, and the world around us, guide us to these conclusions?  

I was inspired to start this investigation after a friend sent me a message in late 2019, ‘are you dead?’ with an attached article. A cold case murder had been solved after many years, and the victim, who shares my name, lived just outside of Chicago. As sad and disturbing as the case was, I kept returning to the story. Throughout my life, I’ve been fascinated by spirituality, philosophy, science, life, death, etc., and lately my work has been influenced by the uncovering of some old family VHS footage, and a sense of nostalgia brought on by the pandemic. I'm curious how we as humans collect our life stories, and explain and organize our perceptions of reality. I am particularly interested in exploring contemporary ideas around our shared obsession and fascination with violence, Simulation Hypothesis, and the concept of identity as it plays out in society.   

My idea is to create a series of interactive, installation based works that engage the viewer in a series of ‘experiments’. I want to take each piece out into various galleries/public spaces over a 2 year period to see how each one engages viewers over time. I plan to create surveys, interactive installations and spaces that explore these ideas, starting with: amidead.life.  In addition to creating artistic experiments, I plan to connect with other Pamela Maurers, and interview experts on a range of related topics from 'the afterlife' to reproductive rights to grave traditions. 

I will photograph, film, and record this process, and hope to create a pseudo-documentary/visual memoire film piece, as well as an installation based gallery show.