Inside 2084: UNOBSERVED, Netty Neal’s wider creative universe

Faceless Design Collective reaches far beyond music, with creator Netty Neal developing a much wider fictional and creative universe through 2084: UNOBSERVED.

The project grew from 2084, a novel written by Netty exploring artificial intelligence, humanity and the idea of a digitally governed future.

From there, the concept began expanding into something much broader, bringing together fiction, music, visual storytelling and serious questions about the way technology is shaping human life.

Speaking exclusively to SoapLandTV, Netty explained that the wider vision is now beginning to take shape as 2084: UNOBSERVED, with ambitions that extend well beyond a single book.

“That wider vision is now beginning to take shape as the 2084: UNOBSERVED movement: a connected creative universe that is intended to grow into a series of novels, alongside a television series and, eventually, film.”

Music is already part of that world too. Netty has created an accompanying 2084: UNOBSERVED album, allowing the ideas behind the fictional universe to exist in sound as well as on the page.

The project also connects closely with Netty’s professional work in AI product strategy and governance. She is actively involved in conversations around AI, publishing and media across the UK, US and Canada, giving the fictional questions behind 2084 a direct relationship with issues already being discussed in the real world.

One of the key ideas running through the wider project is #UNOBSERVED, which Netty describes as a symbolic rebellion against a world increasingly shaped by data, algorithms and constant observation.

“What happens to us when everything can be measured, predicted, recommended and watched? And where do we go to simply be human when nobody - or nothing - is observing?”

Those questions sit at the centre of the 2084 world. Rather than presenting technology as automatically positive or negative, the project explores what happens when digital systems become increasingly capable of understanding, predicting and influencing human behaviour.

That makes the relationship between 2084 and Faceless Design Collective particularly interesting. Netty is actively using AI-assisted technology within her creative work while also exploring the wider responsibilities and consequences that come with increasingly powerful systems.

The result is a project that can approach the same ideas from different directions. A novel can examine the political or social implications of a digitally governed future, while music can explore love, loss, desire and identity within that broader world.

Netty describes the overall project as a creative ecosystem of “music, fiction, visuals, digital characters and storytelling”, with each part offering another way into the same wider set of ideas.

Despite the scale of the concept, there is also a playful side to the philosophy behind it. Netty joked that sometimes the answer to escaping constant observation is considerably simpler: put on headphones, turn up the volume and dance.

As 2084: UNOBSERVED develops, the project gives Faceless Design Collective room to grow far beyond a traditional music catalogue.

With novels, television and film all part of the longer-term vision, Netty is building a world designed to explore what it means to remain human as technology becomes more capable of imitating, predicting and shaping us.

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Image: Faceless Design Collective