Ed Fornieles is a London-based artist known for performance, installation, and internet-based work that treats identity, family and data as systems that can be hacked, traded, and role-played. His projects often unfold as scripted social-media performances or role-playing games that use real online platforms as their stage.,,
In Dorm Daze, he invited friends to take over scalped Facebook profiles of real American college students and improvise a semi-scripted, three-month drama of campus life, including a cheating scandal, a fraternity hazing, and a friend's suicide.In 2014 his exhibition “Modern Family” at Chisenhale Gallery in London combined an immersive Los Angeles suburban set with a Facebook-gated website that traded visitors' photos and data to generate constantly updating imagery. He compared the piece to how personal data is traded online, saying access to the site was “a trade of your photos or data”.
In 2017 his work featured in “Hybrid Layers” at ZKM Karlsruhe, a survey of how digital technology reshapes perception and culture.In 2018 he developed the Certificate Program, a set of artist prints tied to an Ethereum smart contract that entitled holders to a share of an Ethereum fund built from certificate and artwork sales.,Collectors had to scratch off and damage a certificate to redeem its share of the fund, forcing a choice between keeping the print as an artwork or cashing it in. Certificates including Studio Contract and Athens Biennale Official Certificates were shown in Kate Vass Galerie's “Perfect and Priceless” in Zürich in 2018 and 2019.In 2019 he presented Cel, a performance-installation addressing online far-right male aggression.His Associations series uses internet search tools to link images by formal and conceptual association, drawing on the 'flow state' social media platforms use to keep users suggestible.
