Invisible Voice reimagines online advertising to create meaningful social impact instead of profit. Debuting at Ars Electronica as an advertising board, Invisible Voice identifies the brands you are wearing or holding and displays related subvertisements and news headlines. When approached, the screen reveals data on environmental impacts, corporate accountability, financial conduct, human rights, and more besides. It also features an interactive map revealing connections to other individuals and companies.
Invisible Voice is a digital arts and research project featuring a browser extension, mobile app and installation. Supported by the European Commission and UOC and co-commissioned by HacTe in the framework of STARTS in the City, it aims to reshape societal narratives and unite individuals around shared causes like environmental impacts, human rights and corporate accountability.
Invisible Voice Outdoors – Scanned participants with subvertising and news headlines / Mark Farid (GB)
Invisible Voice by Ticket Office – Live feed of the room / Mark Farid (GB)
Launching in January 2025, Invisible Voice‘s desktop/mobile extension and app empower you with factual and unbiased information about the businesses behind the companies you use. Using data from 37 Open Access datasets, it offers scores on political bias, lobbying, sustainability and more, helping users align their activities with their values. The mobile app scans products, logos or barcodes to provide information about materials, ingredients, packaging, and company data. Prioritising privacy, Invisible Voice repurposes online advertising for social impact, turning data into action and fostering communities.
Bios
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Mark Farid
GB
Mark Farid is an artist, researcher and lecturer in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. He specializes in the intersection of the virtual and physical world, and the effect that new technologies have on the individual and their sense of self. Farid’s work embodies hacker ethics, such as a focus on privacy policies, use of surveillance technologies and campaigning for data privacy and protection. His work forms a critique of social, legal and political models.
Credits
Invisible Voice is created by artist Mark Farid and developed by Orange. It is co-commissioned by HacTe and MediaFutures with support from the University of the Arts London, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, GuestRoomMaribor, and the S+T+ARTS program of the European Union.
This project has been developed and is presented in the context of the STARTS in the City project. STARTS in the City has received funding from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No. LC-01984766.
This project has been developed and is presented in the context of the STARTS in the City project. STARTS in the City has received funding from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No. LC-01984766.
