Assassination of Shinzo Abe: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated while giving a campaign speech, sending shockwaves through Japan and the world.
British Government in Complete Crisis: Boris Johnson's premiership collapsed as 61 ministers and aides resigned. Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader but remained as caretaker Prime Minister.
Sri Lankan Government Falls Amid Economic Collapse: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his residence after protesters stormed the building. Both the president and prime minister agreed to resign amid the country's worst economic crisis since 1948.
Ukraine War and European Heat Wave: Russian missile strikes killed at least 23 civilians in Vinnytsia. Simultaneously, Europe experienced its most severe heat wave in centuries, with Portugal issuing warnings of temperatures as high as 43°C (109°F) amid devastating wildfires.
James Webb Space Telescope: NASA released the first stunning full-color image from the James Webb Space Telescope, a major milestone in astronomy.
The signal for July 2022 is one of profound and cascading failure. It is not a single crisis, but the simultaneous collapse of multiple pillars of the global order. A former world leader is assassinated; a major G7 government implodes; a nation's entire government falls amidst economic ruin. These political collapses are set against the backdrop of a brutal war and an existential, record-shattering heat wave.
The glitch of this era is this "Signal of Collapse." It is the experience of watching established structures of power—political, economic, and even environmental—disintegrate at the same time, creating a power vacuum.
This artifact simulates that vacuum. The screen is a dark void, and the headlines of the month fall into it like shattered fragments. The ghost in this machine is the memory of order. Your cursor is a disruptive force, a gravitational anomaly in the void. As you move it, you pull the fragments of collapse toward you, revealing the chaos and instability of a world where the old certainties are falling apart.