THE VALIDATION JUNKY
ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART x VISIBLE FUTURES LAB
LONDON & NEW YORK CITY, 2014-16
LONDON & NEW YORK CITY, 2014-16
THE VALIDATION JUNKY is an installation comprising drawings and a sculptural artefact, developed through expanded architectural methods that synthesise approaches from trend forecasting, software design, and fashion practice.
Developed between London and New York City, THE VALIDATION JUNKY originated as a graduate project from the MA Design Interactions programme at the Royal College of Art and culminated in the 2015 Artist in Residence Award at the Visible Futures Lab, School of Visual Arts, with the installation MACHINES TO AUTOMATE TASTE.
The work imagines connections between the cognition of appeal—or ‘beauty’—and its relationship with sexual attraction systems, exploring how serotonin and dopamine are released in response to the visual perception of mathematics, proportions, signals, and semiotics. It visualises ontological connections in an increasingly complex world of new media, examining how dating apps and social media platforms facilitate the selection and validation of individuals based primarily on photographic appeal, rather than on human qualities such as warmth, character, or kindness. Through speculative cartography and aesthetic systems, the installation questions how desirability is constructed, codified, and commodified within contemporary digital infrastructures.
Keywords - Artificial Intelligence, Body Architecture, Cognition, Consumer Psychology, Cybernetics, Marketing, Mathematics & Proportions, Ontologies, Perception, Trend Forecasting, Web2
Developed between London and New York City, THE VALIDATION JUNKY originated as a graduate project from the MA Design Interactions programme at the Royal College of Art and culminated in the 2015 Artist in Residence Award at the Visible Futures Lab, School of Visual Arts, with the installation MACHINES TO AUTOMATE TASTE.
The work imagines connections between the cognition of appeal—or ‘beauty’—and its relationship with sexual attraction systems, exploring how serotonin and dopamine are released in response to the visual perception of mathematics, proportions, signals, and semiotics. It visualises ontological connections in an increasingly complex world of new media, examining how dating apps and social media platforms facilitate the selection and validation of individuals based primarily on photographic appeal, rather than on human qualities such as warmth, character, or kindness. Through speculative cartography and aesthetic systems, the installation questions how desirability is constructed, codified, and commodified within contemporary digital infrastructures.
Keywords - Artificial Intelligence, Body Architecture, Cognition, Consumer Psychology, Cybernetics, Marketing, Mathematics & Proportions, Ontologies, Perception, Trend Forecasting, Web2

THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014


THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014


THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
Digitally-Drawn Vector Print on Archive Paper, 191(h)x152(w)cm, London & NYC 2014
THE VALIDATION JUNKY - INSTALLATION
Visible Future Lab, NYC. Artefact, CNC Milled Brass & 3D printed ABS, 70(h)x110(w)x12(d)
Drawings, Hand Finished Giclée Print on Hahnemühle German Etching, 141cm(h)x100cm(w) each
Visible Future Lab, NYC. Artefact, CNC Milled Brass & 3D printed ABS, 70(h)x110(w)x12(d)
Drawings, Hand Finished Giclée Print on Hahnemühle German Etching, 141cm(h)x100cm(w) each


Excerpt from Art Unlimied, “Queer Bodies and Venues in New York”, Yener Bayramoğlu 2016
THE VALIDATION JUNKY
Comimisioned by - The Visible Futures Lab, School of Visual Arts, NYC
Project Assistants - James William Sanders, Nestor Pestana, Wei Yen Hui
Selected Project Engagement
2016, Featured in article, ‘Queer bodies and venues in New York’, Art Unlimited, New York City, USA
2016, Exhibited in a Solo show, ‘MACHINES TO AUTOMATE TASTE’, Visible Futures Lab, New York City, USA
2015, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Technophilia and the Corrupt Body’, Menier Gallery, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Freed From Desire’, Gallery 223, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Next New Brave World’, Arebyte Gallery, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2016, Exhibited in a Solo show, ‘MACHINES TO AUTOMATE TASTE’, Visible Futures Lab, New York City, USA
2015, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Technophilia and the Corrupt Body’, Menier Gallery, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Freed From Desire’, Gallery 223, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, ‘Next New Brave World’, Arebyte Gallery, London, UK
2014, Exhibited in a Group show, Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK