Portfolio: Installations

Medium: video Installation  (04:01)

Since the pandemic eruption, most of us were left with a minimum possibility to be socially present in the physical world and acquired a more ‘Virtual Life’. Even as we are gradually moving back to the pre-pandemic state, a ‘new normal standard’ started to develop in the context of social media, expanding by that the algorithm pressure, with more expectations to our online presence; If we are not active enough online, the algorithm decides that we are not interesting enough, therefore won’t grant us a proper online existence. We are as well gradually losing the intensity of immersive experiences, as we are required to be constantly conscious in the virtual world; Everybody is watching!

The exponential growth of online requirements is leading us to suffocate from the oversaturated embellished realities, the camouflaged beings, and their surroundings.

‘Social Media Faces’ being at the center of Balian’s research and practice, with a focus on the heavy illusion that most users are immersed in, she represents in this work the metamorphosis and the deterioration process of these polished faces. An over saturation of emotionless faces as a representation of the social media expectations of living a near-perfect life, that is leaving most users with “No Time to Live, No Time to Feel.”

“Threatened Polished Faces” was part of the “Getaway” exhibition at 934 art gallery Columbus,  OH, United States.

“Social Media Faces” is an interactive video installation commissioned by World Art Dubai 2021

Social Media Faces (2021) 

Social Media Faces (2021) DETAIL

Social Media Faces (2021) Part of the Video Installation

Social media is a contemporary social problem.Today’s general tendency surprisingly quickly embraced social media because it offered the possibility to become a polished active character in an imaginary world. The unstoppable growing pressure of belonging to the social media community is pushing its users to obsessively apply certain beauty standards in editing and polishing their pictures, producing look-alike posted faces.The over-saturation of these posted pictures and the fixation to look perfect at all time, is leading to the struggle to come back to our original state, therefore, being stuck in a polished cracked reality. Social Media Faces consists of a pile of Rubik’s cubes placed on a table. Portraits of polished resin faces, printed on these cubes, illustrate the over-saturation of the virtual world.The audience is invited to play with these cubes the way they normally do with Rubik’s cubes, mixing up the facial parts in an attempt to solve the puzzle and fails in most cases; helplessly leaving these faces distorted, similarly to the emotional state the social media followers are left with. In addition to the cubes, a video shows a person attempting to solve the puzzles.