Echo Chambers

An ‘echo chamber’ is defined as ‘an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered’.

But what would happen if you place two echo chambers in the same room?

In this 3 hour looping audiovisual installation, you are presented with two echo chambers that have contrasting political ideologies. On one side, you are presented with politically weighted content from a left-wing echo chamber. On the other you are presented with politically weighted content from a right-wing echo chamber.

To gain exposure to these echo chambers, at the start of 2024 I began training two new social media account algorithms. I trained one to have strong left-wing political views. I trained the other to have strong right-wing political views. I then spent 9 months scrolling, following, sharing, watching and liking politically weighted content until eventually I had two accounts that saw the world from completely different perspectives. ‘Echo Chambers’ is an installation that brings these two perspectives into one room.

The project is designed to make the private act of scrolling a group activity and ask the question ‘what can we learn when we see the world through another person’s algorithm?’