PERFECTION / SPECULATION in conversation with Natasha Vita-More photo Katharina Gellein Viken & Charles Kriel
Adam Peacock is a post-disciplinary artist, creative director, and academic theorist working at the intersection of architecture, sculpture, AI, fashion, branding and computer science. His work explores how digital infrastructures shape human behaviour, desire, and identity in an increasingly complex world.
His work draws on methods from consumer psychology, genetic technology, media theory, and visual culture, unfolding across gallery, academic, and commercial contexts. THE VALIDATION JUNKY, his long-term experimental research framework, directly informs IDENTITY MECHANISMS, a strategy studio advising brands and institutions on how identity is shaped by digital systems.
Photo Ethan Peacock
THE VALIDATION JUNKY - Artistic Lens
Peacock’s exhibited work unfolds through THE VALIDATION JUNKY, an ongoing conceptual framework exploring how algorithmic systems shape desirability, identity, and subjectivity. This research-driven lens underpins a wide-ranging artistic practice spanning installation, drawing, video, and speculative design. Works have been presented across museums, galleries, biennales, research institutions, and innovation platforms internationally, including Arebyte Gallery, London (2014); Visible Futures Lab, SVA New York City (2015); Fashion Space Gallery, London (2016–17); Melbourne School of Design (2018); Science Gallery Melbourne (2018); Ars Electronica, Linz (2021); The Vigeland Museum, Oslo (2021); RAM Gallery, Oslo (2023); Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2023); and SKOG Art Space, Oslo (upcoming—2026).
IDENTITY MECHANISMS - Consultancy, Creative Direction & Commercial Systems Extending the ideas developed through THE VALIDATION JUNKY, Peacock founded IDENTITY MECHANISMS, a consultancy and strategy studio translating speculative inquiry into applied innovation for brands, spaces, and digital ecosystems. His consultancy work explores how human psychology engages with identity systems and designed environments across garments, objects, vehicles, buildings, and digital interfaces, connecting design thinking to broader cultural behaviours. This perspective offers a ‘big picture’ understanding of consumer dynamics and has shaped projects for clients including Audi, Accenture, FIAT, NEOM Saudi Arabia, Stella McCartney, and the Science Gallery Network. With a background in architecture, he previously held roles at Amanda Levete Architects, Heatherwick Studio, and WilkinsonEyre, contributing to landmark developments across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.
PhD Visual Cultures - Academic Practice & Research
Underpinning both artistic and commercial practices is a commitment to pedagogy and critical research. He is currently undertaking an ESRC-supported PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, where his work interrogates the assetisation of online identity and the optimisation of subjectivity through AI-driven infrastructures. From 2016–20, he served as Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, leading the Speculative Prototyping unit for MA Fashion Futures, and from 2020–24 was Visiting Professor of Future Fashion and Identity at the School of International Art, Beijing, leading the ‘Future of Fashion, Identity and the Metaverse’ masterclass. He co-founded the Fashion/Architecture Lab and co-led the DNA of Perfection studio at the Melbourne School of Design, where he was awarded the 2018 Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.
Peacock’s exhibited work unfolds through THE VALIDATION JUNKY, an ongoing conceptual framework exploring how algorithmic systems shape desirability, identity, and subjectivity. This research-driven lens underpins a wide-ranging artistic practice spanning installation, drawing, video, and speculative design. Works have been presented across museums, galleries, biennales, research institutions, and innovation platforms internationally, including Arebyte Gallery, London (2014); Visible Futures Lab, SVA New York City (2015); Fashion Space Gallery, London (2016–17); Melbourne School of Design (2018); Science Gallery Melbourne (2018); Ars Electronica, Linz (2021); The Vigeland Museum, Oslo (2021); RAM Gallery, Oslo (2023); Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2023); and SKOG Art Space, Oslo (upcoming—2026).
IDENTITY MECHANISMS - Consultancy, Creative Direction & Commercial Systems Extending the ideas developed through THE VALIDATION JUNKY, Peacock founded IDENTITY MECHANISMS, a consultancy and strategy studio translating speculative inquiry into applied innovation for brands, spaces, and digital ecosystems. His consultancy work explores how human psychology engages with identity systems and designed environments across garments, objects, vehicles, buildings, and digital interfaces, connecting design thinking to broader cultural behaviours. This perspective offers a ‘big picture’ understanding of consumer dynamics and has shaped projects for clients including Audi, Accenture, FIAT, NEOM Saudi Arabia, Stella McCartney, and the Science Gallery Network. With a background in architecture, he previously held roles at Amanda Levete Architects, Heatherwick Studio, and WilkinsonEyre, contributing to landmark developments across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.
PhD Visual Cultures - Academic Practice & Research
Underpinning both artistic and commercial practices is a commitment to pedagogy and critical research. He is currently undertaking an ESRC-supported PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, where his work interrogates the assetisation of online identity and the optimisation of subjectivity through AI-driven infrastructures. From 2016–20, he served as Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, leading the Speculative Prototyping unit for MA Fashion Futures, and from 2020–24 was Visiting Professor of Future Fashion and Identity at the School of International Art, Beijing, leading the ‘Future of Fashion, Identity and the Metaverse’ masterclass. He co-founded the Fashion/Architecture Lab and co-led the DNA of Perfection studio at the Melbourne School of Design, where he was awarded the 2018 Robert Garland Treseder Fellowship.
Genetics Gym Development, photo John Duff
“It's an interesting moment to be an artist and designer, economically speaking. I believe that the most relevant contemporary artists, architects and designers of our time will not just investigate the buildings, objects, clothes, cars we use, but the technological infrastructures that we inhabit, psychologically and culturally.
When we start to confront these design realms, it’s important to have the perspective to understand that what you might consider perfect, ideal or utopian might well be another person's dystopia.
This is particularly interesting when you start to consider the possibilities of synthetic biology, genome editing, and artificial intelligence. I believe that these conversations, through artistic design processes, whether architectural, fashion, or industrial, will be some of the most important design challenges of our time”
Excerpt taken from an interview with Melbourne School of Design available here
