Exhibition
Mark Farid - Seeing I: The Lives of Hounslow
1 Sep 2021 – 10 Oct 2021
Regular hours
- Monday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Tuesday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Wednesday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Thursday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Friday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Saturday
- 12:30 – 21:00
- Sunday
- 12:30 – 21:00
Address
- 40 High Street
- Brentford
- TW8 0DS
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Bus 65, 237, 267, and N9 all stop outside Watermans
- Tube: South Ealing (Piccadilly) and Gunnersbury (District) at about 1 mile (Zone 3)
- Train: Kew Bridge & Brentford (trains from Waterloo and Hounslow) are a 10 minute walk
For 16 hours, Paul, Niina, and Q, each recorded one day of their life
About
Seeing I: The Lives of Hounslow, explores the real-life lives of people within the local community, and issues that matter to them. Wearing a custom developed pair of sunglasses fitted with covert miniature camera lenses and microphones capable of recording a full 360° field of view, from first person point-of-view, for 24-continuous-hours, every aspect of Paul, Niina, and Q’s life are captured; from brushing their teeth, to their bike rides, to their work, social life, and children, to their most intimate moments. Their everyday actions become transformed into an act of sharing; nothing is edited out. Any editing takes the form of self-censorship - and performance - as they determine which aspects of their lives they wish to share with the audience. In a world where every moment of our lives are documented and made public, how do they adapt to being watched?
Seeing I: The Lives of Hounslow is a part of a larger project, Seeing I: 7 days in VR, which sees artist Mark Farid wear a virtual reality headset, for 24-hours a day, for 7-days, experiencing life through the eyes and ears of one person; hearing only what they hear and seeing only what they see for one week. Inspired by Psychologist Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971), Philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1981), and Artist Josh Harris’ Quiet: We Live in Public (1999), Farid will be isolated in the exhibition space, unable to hear his own voice, or see his own hands for the duration of the project. With the only human ‘interaction’ that Farid will experience being the Other’s life - through the VR headset - how will this simulated cohabitation in the life of another displace Farid’s own sense of self?
Seeing I is commissioned by arebyte Gallery (UK), and the European Media Art Platform's (EU) with the support of the Creative Europe Culture Programme of the European Union (EU), the National Theatre Immersive Storytelling Studio, Body>Data>Space (UK), and the Sundance Institute (USA).
Seeing I: The Lives of Hounslow is commissioned by Watermans Arts Centre.
