THE VALIDATION JUNKY

The Validation Junky is an installation consisting of drawings and a sculptural artefact developed through iterative processes in dialogue with trend forecasters, software designers, and fashion designers.

Expanding upon clinical psychologist Alan Down’s theories on the relationship between anxiety, consumption behaviours and identity expression within the psychology of gay men, the installation imagines connections between the cognition of appeal, or ‘beauty’, its relationship with sexual attraction systems, and the release of serotonin and dopamine according to the visual perception of mathematics, proportions, signals, and semiotics. The project visualises the ontological connections in an increasingly complex world of new media, observing how the tools within dating apps and social media facilitate the selection and validation of individuals according to their photographic appeal rather than human factors of kindness, warmth or character.

“By the time the gay boy becomes a man, he is well-practised in the art of achieving validation for his actions that may be praiseworthy but are inauthentic to him. He is, so to speak, a validation junky” (Downs 2012: 31).”

Keywords - Artificial Intelligence, Body Architecture, Cognition, Consumer Psychology, Cybernetics, Marketing, Mathematics & Proportions, Ontologies, Perception, Trend Forecasting, Web2

The Validation Junky Installation at The 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