In his lecture artist Mark Farid talked about four of his projects: Data Shadow (2015), Poisonous Antidote (2016), Invisible Voice (2017 - 2018) and Seeing I (2019). Mark Farid presented his upcoming virtual reality project Seeing I, which sees Mark wear a virtual reality headset for 24-hours a day, for 28-days, only seeing and hearing what one person sees and hears for 28-days.
Inspired by the ‘Stanford Prison Experiment’ (1971), Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ (1981), and Josh Harris’ ‘Quiet: We Live in Public’ (1999), Seeing I will confine Farid to a gallery space in London, subjected to the simulated life of the project’s Other. With no pre-knowledge of, or existing relationship to the Other, the only details confirmed to Farid will be that the Other is in a relationship and at least eighteen years of age. For the duration of the project’s 28-days, Farid will experience no human interaction relative to his own life, allowing his indirect relationship with the Other to become Farid's leading narrative. Will the constant stream of artificial sights and sounds start to displace his own internal monologue? Adapting the question of nature vs. nurture to the digital age, Seeing I will consider how large a portion of the individual is an inherent self, and how large a portion is a consequence of environmental culture. Will the 28-days alter Farid’s movement, mannerisms, personality, memory or rationale?
Without freewill to determine who he is, will Farid’s consciousness be enough to deter significant changes? Mark Farid will be presenting his upcoming virtual reality project Seeing I, which sees Mark wear a virtual reality headset for 24-hours a day, for 28-days, only seeing and hearing what one person sees and hears for 28-days.
Inspired by the ‘Stanford Prison Experiment’ (1971), Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ (1981), and Josh Harris’ ‘Quiet: We Live in Public’ (1999), Seeing I will confine Farid to a gallery space in London, subjected to the simulated life of the project’s Other. With no pre-knowledge of, or existing relationship to the Other, the only details confirmed to Farid will be that the Other is in a relationship and at least eighteen years of age. For the duration of the project’s 28-days, Farid will experience no human interaction relative to his own life, allowing his indirect relationship with the Other to become Farid's leading narrative. Will the constant stream of artificial sights and sounds start to displace his own internal monologue? Adapting the question of nature vs. nurture to the digital age, Seeing I will consider how large a portion of the individual is an inherent self, and how large a portion is a consequence of environmental culture. Will the 28-days alter Farid’s movement, mannerisms, personality, memory or rationale? Without freewill to determine who he is, will Farid’s consciousness be enough to deter significant changes?
He will briefly talk about the political and social issues which drive his projects, along with the conceptual aspects of his work. He will also talk about fundraising, and how he got funding for project directly after graduating in 2014 until the present day.
Mark Farid (b. 1992, Leicester) is a conceptual artist who examines the formation of our projected-self, and how our constructed identity is shaped by societal expectations. Farid graduated from Kingston University, London, with a First Class (Hons) degree in Fine Art in 2014, and has since given talks and participated in group and solo exhibitions in England, France, Germany, Denmark, UAE, and Japan.
Farid gave a TEDx talk in 2017 about his first two projects, Data Shadow and Poisonous Antidote, and took part in the Sundance New Frontier program in 2016 for an on-going project, Seeing I. Farid has appeared on Sky News, Fox News, Arte, BBC Radio 4, the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, and has written about his work for the Telegraph.