#VirtualSurgery Exhibition

“I want to look like my selfie” “I want to look like my selfie” “I want to look like my selfie, without filters” In an era when posting your food on Instagram is more important than eating; when selfie is a representation of one’s identity; when one seeks to transform themselves to become their filtered selfie, is there still space for us to reveal who we truly are? Are we shaping our identities on social media or is social media shaping us? Behind the masks of total choice, different forms of the same alienation confront each other, as pointed out by Guy Debord. This society has taken the idea of spectacle to an almost surreal extreme. #VirtualSurgery Exhibition is a response to the workshop – #NoFilter, that Mirador Collective had conducted in collaboration with a group of young females from Rugby Portobello Trust and Amplify Studio. It aims to open up discussions on the blurred line between the real and the virtual worlds. We unknowingly expose ourselves to a set of unrealistic standards created in the virtual world. It seems that we will never be perfect. Social media, being an extended reality, is capable of adversely affecting mental health. 41% of the Generation Z users have reported that social media platforms make them feel anxious, sad, or depressed. This is not an issue that we can ignore. The exhibition features the final outcome in response to the #NoFilter workshop as well as the work of Bèatrice S. Hug, Polina Zinziver, and Mirador Collective. An experimental sound artist, Eric Fabrizi, as well as young musicians from the Amplify Studio will immerse the audience in the atmosphere with their audio performance.