Perfection / Speculation in conversation with Natasha Vita-More photo Katharina Gellein Viken & Charles Kriel
Adam Peacock is a post-disciplinary artist, designer and researcher working at the intersection of Architecture, Fine-Art, Sculpture, Fashion, and Computer-Science. Adam uses visual media to provoke dialogue across industries, perspectives, and ideologies on where we want the future of technology to take us and how emerging technologies affect human behaviours.
Drawing upon practices and methodologies in fashion, architecture, visual art, consumer psychology, genetic technology, and social anthropology, his works explore human experience within an infinitely complex new media age. Works developed through mediums ranging from engineering blueprints, digital body scanning, videography, and meta-body representation within augmented and virtual environments. Over the past ten years (2014-), a series of designed experiments have formed a research lens entitled ‘The Validation Junky’.
Since 2014, Peacock's diverse body of work – spanning video installations, large-format illustrations, lectures, workshops, sculptures, and photography – has been exhibited in major museums, galleries, scientific forums, and educational institutions across the globe. His work has featured at venues including Arebyte Gallery, London (2014), the Visible Futures Lab, School of Visual Arts, New York City (2015), Royal College of Art, London (2015), Architectural Association, London (2016), London College of Fashion (2016), Fashion Space Gallery, London (2017), Fashion Clash Festival, Maastricht (2018), Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne (2018), Science Gallery, Melbourne (2018), Science Gallery, Dublin (2019), Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles (2020), Art Center, Los Angeles (2020), School of International Art, Beijing (2020), Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts & Design, Lahore (2020), Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria (2021), The Vigeland Museum, Oslo (2021), Bartlett School of Architecture, London (2022), Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico City (2022-23), Yam Gallery, Mexico City (2023), Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (2023), RAM Galleri, Oslo (2023), and ISDI Condé Nast College Americas, Mexico City (upcoming).
In Peacock’s practice, the viewer becomes an active participant. His extensive experience in audience engagement, developed over a decade of hybrid practice, spans architecture, teaching future fashion concepts, consulting with brands, and designing experimental interactive environments.
He is currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London (2024-present). As a Visiting Professor at the School of International Art, Beijing, Peacock leads the Future of Fashion, Identity, and the Metaverse Masterclass (2020-present). He also served as an Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, where he taught the Speculative Prototyping unit (2016-20). As a co-founder of the Fashion/Architecture Lab, he co-led the DNA of Perfection at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne (2018-19). He holds degrees from the Royal College of Art, the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Peacock has contributed to projects for Amanda Levete Architects, Heatherwick Studio, and WilkinsonEyre, and has consulted for clients including Audi, FIAT, NEOM Saudi Arabia, Stella McCartney, and the Science Gallery Network, among others.
In Peacock’s practice, the viewer becomes an active participant. His extensive experience in audience engagement, developed over a decade of hybrid practice, spans architecture, teaching future fashion concepts, consulting with brands, and designing experimental interactive environments.
He is currently pursuing a PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London (2024-present). As a Visiting Professor at the School of International Art, Beijing, Peacock leads the Future of Fashion, Identity, and the Metaverse Masterclass (2020-present). He also served as an Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, where he taught the Speculative Prototyping unit (2016-20). As a co-founder of the Fashion/Architecture Lab, he co-led the DNA of Perfection at the Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne (2018-19). He holds degrees from the Royal College of Art, the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Peacock has contributed to projects for Amanda Levete Architects, Heatherwick Studio, and WilkinsonEyre, and has consulted for clients including Audi, FIAT, NEOM Saudi Arabia, Stella McCartney, and the Science Gallery Network, among others.
photo Daniel Slotvik
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
