Eric Stynes makes work spanning the fields of art, graphic design, art direction, moving image and spatial design — with an emphasis on meaningful research.

The Golyadkin Paradox

This project seeks to explore the paradox presented by Dostoevskys novel ‘The Double’, in which the protagonist Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin is replaced by a doppleganger. In Golyadkin’s attempt to claim his own identity and convince his peers that he is the original, his frustration results in his dismissal as the double.

Comparing this fictional situation with my own digital persona on soicial media, I seek to answer the question of how much of myself resides within an inpenatrable algorithm. This interrogation raises only more questions about authenticity, masculinity and demographic profiling online.

The research began by documenting and feeding my social media algorithm. Who does this algorithm think I am? What does it
think drives me?

I felt that many of the conspiracies, male influencer and religious content did not reflect my beliefs but still I was presented with
this media repeatedly.

An accompanying 250 page book seeks to collate and organise various facets of a digital doppleganger. Using screenshots collected from my personal social media feeds between September and December 2024, images and content have been grouped under a series of descriptive headings to enable further research. An attempt to enforce order on chaos to gain deeper understanding of who this reflection really is.