This issue documents Last Human Studio at MAD Arts, a three day, hands on experiment in civic AI literacy conducted with high school students in December 2025. The Studio integrates vibe coding, digital storytelling, and critical making to examine how artificial intelligence shapes perception, agency, and participation in contemporary digital systems.

Central to the project is the Dead Internet Museum (DIM), an arcade like exhibition of browser-based works created by students during the Studio. Each work exists as a self contained artifact, part artwork and part experiment. Rather than explaining the internet, these artifacts perform it, foregrounding how interfaces guide behavior and shape meaning.

The Studio emphasizes making as a form of literacy. Students do not simply present finished projects; they host interactive systems that include audio led rituals, unstable interfaces, and wearable masks developed as tools for reflection and critical distance. Vibe coding functions both as a creative practice and an analytical lens, enabling rapid prototyping while encouraging attention to how systems persuade, fail, and contradict themselves.

Structured as a progression from recognition to participation, DIM operates not as a static exhibition but as a civic rehearsal. This issue presents Last Human Studio as a pedagogical framework and public facing inquiry, positioning AI literacy as an embodied, participatory practice grounded in experimentation, reflection, and collective engagement.

Why a Zine?

Because what we’re building is alive. It’s glitching, evolving, and filled with uncertainty. This zine is our lab notebook, our manifesto, and our ghost story. It captures the behind-the-scenes mechanics of storytelling in a collapsing digital world—where identity is fluid, interfaces betray us, and collective punishment feels algorithmic.

Proceeds from zine and collectible sales directly support the installation of LAST HUMAN.

About

The Last Human Collective is a hybrid team of artists, designers, technologists, and researchers investigating what it means to remain human in an increasingly synthetic world. Through immersive installations, browser-based rituals, and participatory horror, we aim to expose and challenge the fractured realities of our time. Our work is a call for agency, critical literacy, and new forms of communal resistance.