Friendly Fire

Interactive AI powered installation

Friendly Fire is a deeply unsettling installation that critically examines social media consumption and our ubiquitous naivety in handling personal data. It's a parable about the hypnotized gaze into fire, whose primal force already captivated cavemen. Social networks promise warmth and comfort – while disinformation, engagement traps, and hate speech threaten to devastate regions like wildfires. People drawn in by friendly.fire’s screen and sound design get burnt themselves: As they unwittingly cross an subtle floor marking, they, in accordance with the terms of use on display, consent to become part of a deepfake experiment themselves.

Client / Manufacturer

Peter Schmidt Group

Hamburg, DE

Design

Peter Schmidt Group

Hamburg, DEHenrik Bergerbusch, Chiara Krug von Nidda, Henrik Mielicke