Exhibitions, Research, Criticism, Commentary

A chronology of 3,585 references across art, science, technology, and culture
● 18/01/2026
“You have to clock in for school, clock in for work, and now you have to clock in just to prove you aren’t dead. Chinese people—spending a lifetime ‘clocking in.’”
– Weibo commenter, on the viral success of Sileme (translation: ‘are you dead?’), a check-in app for solo dwellers that alerts an emergency contact if users don’t confirm they’re alive every 48 hours. The iOS app became China’s most downloaded paid app this month, its name a dark pun on popular food delivery service Ele.me (‘are you hungry?’). By 2030, China could have 200 million one-person households.
NBC News
● 03/10/2025
“ICEBlock is no different from crowdsourcing speed traps, which every notable mapping application, including Apple’s own Maps app, implements as part of its core service.”
– ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron, defending his app after Apple removed it from the App Store following pressure from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. The crowdsourced tool allows users to alert others about ICE agent sightings, which Aaron argues serves a protective function similar to traffic apps—while the Trump administration claims it endangers law enforcement officers.
CNN
● 02/07/2025
“When we see ICE agents outside of elementary schools, disappearing college students for their political beliefs, or ripping babies from their mother’s arms as they scream for their children, we all know their rhetoric of ‘getting rid of the worst of the worst’ is a lie.”
– App developer Joshua Aaron, on his motivation to develop ICEBlock, which allows users to anonymously report ICE sightings in real-time. The app rocketed from 20,000 users to 70,000+ overnight, after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s criticism made it go viral.
Newsweek
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