In Death

BACKGROUND Biopower (Foucault, 1998) concerns the " techniques for achieving the subjugation of bodies and the control of populations". "In Death" questioned the power of disabled people engaging with Centrelink during Australia's "robo debt" scandal and the connection between biopower and "governmentality" (Wallenstein, 2013). It questioned what implications there were for the autonomy of identities measured by digital systems interpreting disability through digital algorithms. When individuals experience disability or sickness and are subject to such medical, welfare and healthcare systems, nonhuman decisions can become the 'God of Permission' over life quality. CONTRIBUTION Three videos were featured. The 'God of Permission' is a voice presence in the videos, and as a disembodied head in an accompanying virtual reality scene. Actors in sci-fi coffins continuously awaken to speak before dying again, reflecting a constant cycle of reinforced and threatened identity one experiences at the hands of welfare systems outlined above. They dramatically speak in limbo to this unseen power that verbally patronizes them. The gothic cathedral aesthetic is mixed with a sunny 60s look to cynically portray the relationship between sickness, disability and civic positivism. Blow up furniture invites visitors to sit, as if in a waiting room in a civic center, highlighting the disunity between good intentions and bio-political implications for individual agency. SIGNIFICANCE "In-Death" was exhibited at Westspace, one of Melbourne's premiere peer-reviewed venues for artistic projects and was accepted by a panel of approximately 10 reviewers. It is a core site to visit for a survey of contemporary practice in the city. It was conceived at the time the "robo debt" scandal was in the Australian media and the liberal government was seen to be targeting marginalized individuals.