British artist, Mark Farid, plans to give up a month of his life to virtual reality with a crowd-funded campaign. The plan is for Farid to remain in one room for 28 days and experience every moment through the eyes of another person (a living “Avatar” if you will) via a bespoke piece of Google Glass aping kit, that will allow him to stream everything they see to his Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. The footage Farid will be viewing through his headset will have been recorded six days prior, so the team have enough time to prepare the same foods the avatar consumes. He'll also use the toilet and go to sleep as and when his avatar does. The project is being funded via Kickstarter, with the goal set at £150,000. At the time of writing, just over £3000 has been raised by 43 backers and there are still 28 days left to donate.
London BAM SEEING I - Launch Event, Interview with Mark Farid & Nimrod Vardi
But what exactly is the point of all this? Conceptual artist Mark is working alongside curator, Nimrod Vardi and documentary maker, John Ingle, to attempt to unravel the eternal questions concerning whether or not our actions are programmed by our genes or moulded by our environment. It's essentially a “Nature or Nurture?” experiment, only on a very small and very personal scale. Mark and his cohorts reside very much in the “Nurture” camp, and hope to use the project to prove how significantly we are shaped by our surroundings, and that (if pushed far enough) we can begin to lose our sense of self. He has said he hopes to “Find out if there is something inherent about the individual, or whether who we are is a cultural identity.”
The only physical human contact Mark will have during the “Seeing I” project will be with a psychologist, who will observe him for an hour a day to make sure he is in no significant mental distress. The psychologist has been examining Farid for a year already in preparation for the project, and he admits it carries with it certain risks. He explained how it is a risk to his eyesight and how his brain functions, but underlines that “This is not an endurance test,” and that “If it is going too far, the project will be called off.”
The plan is for Farid to remain in one room for 28 days and experience every moment through the eyes of another person
Farid already conducted a 24-hour trial earlier this year in order to look into the logistics of the project. He found that even after one day his actions began to change to adapt to his new virtual persona. He said “During one part (of the footage recorded during the trial), the Other was playing Grand Theft Auto” and as he was watching his temporary avatar play the game, Farid “Started mimicking his shooting” with his hands, but didn't realise until he watched the footage back afterwards.
The project will be taking place in a public space, which is yet to be confirmed. Visitors will be able to watch the experiment for 23 hours a day, with the other hour dedicated to his time with the psychologist. His ideal location would be in The Shard, “Living in a glass box in a multimillion-pound complex with the best views of London, cocooned in and above everyone living below.” He also jokes, however, that whilst The Shard would work well conceptually, “So does living in a derelict warehouse in Bradford for exactly the opposite reason.”
Mark Farid Will Live In Virtual Reality For 28 Days Straight
The Avatar (or “Other) has yet to be selected, but anyone interested is welcome to sign up via the Seeing I website. The only criteria is that the participant must be a heterosexual male over the age of 21 who lives with his partner. Farid says this is because he is a straight man in a relationship himself, and also because he feels that “When you live with a partner, you narrate your own life, you verbalise your actions and, to a certain extent, your thoughts” through your partner. The deadline for applications has been set at the 28th of November, so anyone yearning for their life to be recorded 27/7 for a month should get in touch before the window of opportunity closes. Better you than me!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He wouldn't even dream of letting another man into his head for a month. He doesn't even fancy the idea of the Xbox Kinect!
