US Capitol Insurrection Rocks Democracy: On January 6, supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of the election. Five people died in the riots, leading to Trump's second impeachment for incitement of insurrection.
Biden Inaugurated Amid Unprecedented Security: On January 20, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president in a Washington D.C. that resembled a militarized zone, with thousands of troops and barricades deployed due to lingering threats.
COVID-19 Pandemic Continues Global Impact: The US surpassed 20 million cases and 350,000 deaths. California reported a record 585 deaths in a single day. The UK began deploying the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Navalny Returns and is Arrested: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny returned to Russia after being poisoned, and was immediately arrested and jailed for 30 days, sparking international condemnation.
Deadly Terrorist Attacks: Islamist militants killed at least 79 civilians in Niger, and ISIS militants kidnapped and killed eleven coal miners in Pakistan.
January 2021 was the month the digital corruption of 2020 became terrifyingly physical. The glitch was no longer a contested map or a corrupted transmission; it was a literal breach of a system, a violent rejection of established code. It was the moment the ghost in the machine materialized and broke the glass.
This artifact simulates viewing this event through a shattered lens. The image of the US Capitol—a symbol of order—is fractured. The ghost in this machine is the mob itself. Your cursor is its focal point, and as you move, the breach spreads. The cracks deepen, and through them flicker the chaotic signals of the day: violence, insurrection, and the desperate attempts to restore order.
The background hums with the persistent static of the pandemic and the faint, almost unheard signal of the inauguration, but the primary experience is the rupture. It's the memory of a system being physically torn apart from within.