Ed Fornieles

In his practice, Ed Fornieles investigates the impact the virtual world has on physical reality, and vice versa. By blurring the distinctions between the online and the offline, his installations, performances and video works mirror social networks and often use them as artistic tools. His practice involves creating elaborate social scenarios which depict the stark difference between people’s real-life personalities and their online personae. For instance, his 2011 project titled Dorm Daze involved creating characters, inspired by American college students, on Facebook which then interacted with each other for three months, thereby forming connections and subjective experiences. The artist’s live performances similarly orchestrate social settings, often placed within the young person’s coming of age context, to which the audience is invited to actively participate and role-play. By drawing on social media interactions and placing them into the real world, Fornieles creates uncanny observations on people, relationships and the condition of the twenty-first century.