For fold #03 on Happiness, Alex Farrar held open conversations with the people around him, exploring how others understand happiness, how they experience it and what role it plays in their lives. This starting point led to him writing an extended text based on his recollection of these conversations, through which he began to reflect on what happiness means to him.

The conversations –most of which were made with his closest friends and family– took place at a pivotal time for the artist, as he and his partner prepared for the arrival of their first child. From this context, the question of ‘everyday happiness’ and the ease at which the artist enjoyed it, was questioned against the challenge of creating a foundation for long-term happiness.

Alex added questions from his notes on happiness to the shop-window of SEA Foundation’s frontage, sharing a diverse range of concerns –ranging from ‘How do you stay happy at 94?’ and ‘All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as-a-whole these days?’ to ‘Should you be happy?’– with an audience of passersby.

Ahead of publishing the text as an artists’ book, Alex previewed them in progress in a ‘takeover’ of SEA Foundation’s instagram stories. At the time of writing, Alex is continuing to talk about happiness and add to his notes. Updates on the project and its publication will be added to this page and the artist’s website.

Alex Farrar artist in residence post

Alex Farrar

Alex Farrar’s practice is based on the artistic use of the exhibition form as a shared space to consider the intimate, feelingful ways in which we embody social, political, environmental and economic worlds. He makes exhibitions from considered groupings of individual works, which he develops through an understanding of making processes explored in relationship to form and content.