Project Overview

We live in a world of new technologies, free services and convenience products that promise to make our lives—and our selves—better. Social media has shifted lived experience into a world of appearances, filtered by our insecurities and vanities. The idea that we are now the product has become a cliché, yet we still authorise cookies, blindly accept terms and conditions, and trade our search history for the empty validation of likes and followers.

This project extrapolates today’s privacy concerns into the near-future, exploring how companies might push the limits of data collection beyond our online presence to start invading our mind and body. It is centred around Atalo, a fictional cosmetics brand whose products offer very real benefits—but at what cost? Using genetic, neurological and cosmetic technologies, Atalo promises to transform our physical appearance while harvesting our biometric data and even our thoughts. The project is a speculation on the future of privacy and a comment on the intersection of vanity, technology and data-driven markets. It questions what privacies we are willing to give up in exchange for the chance to look, live and feel amazing.

The flipside of the consumer-facing Atalo is Olata, a concealed part of the Atalo company accessible only to advertisers. Olata reflects and reveals the hidden truth behind the Atalo products. They collect genetic and neurological data from consumers and use it to drive targeted advertisements, increase consumption and create personalised consumer experiences.

What would you give up to enhance your mind and body?

Atalo. The future is you.