11 December 2015 - 21 February 2016
In a world where we use Instagram ‘likes’ and YouTube views to assess who and what is important, and fame is just a click away, what impact is the internet really having on how we think about ourselves and those around us? Follow investigates how we understand image and identity as ever-changing concepts which can be bought, sold, mimicked, endorsed, deleted and validated through a single click - as well as exploring methods to survive, subvert and utilise social media. The exhibition raises questions about the ways in which we seek validation from social media and, ultimately, explores how we behave when everyone is watching. #FollowFACT
FACTLab will return to Gallery 2, where we present a pop-up production studio, complete with green screen, lighting rig and basic filming and editing equipment, providing a space for critical experimentation around the way we use social media. The studio is inspired by the YouTube Creator Spaces around the world that are open to an elite group of YouTubers with thousands of subscribers, with the difference that FACTLab will be an open space free for all to use - regardless of position in the social media hierarchy. Artist Louise Adkins has created a series of workshops to take place in the space, specifically looking into themes of online identity, celebrity and the reasons why we produce online videos in the ways we do.
Meanwhile, the Follow Resource Space on the ground floor will feature a collection of journals, books, magazines, videos and games selected by the exhibition curators, situating Kim Kardashian’s Selfish book next to writing by thinkers and artists such as Hito Steyerl and Rob Horning.
Exhibition highlights include new work by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, Cécile B. Evans, Debora Delmar, Joe Orr, Ant Hamlyn, Aram Bartholl, Louise Adkins, Simon Whybray and Candice Jacobs, and restaged work by Constant Dullaart and Kurdwin Ayub.
Follow is curated by Amy Jones & Lesley Taker at FACT. Collaborators: Metal and Picturehouse.