Ever fancied getting followed by a strange, unknown presence? Are you missing the sinister sensation of being watched? Do you dig that ‘stalker’ vibe? Well we've got some really good news – because now, like everything else, there’s an app that can sort it for you. “Follower”, the latest digital invention from artist Lauren McCarthy, is here to indulge all those weird and unsettling little desires – offering you the chance to get your own, real life stalker for the day.

The app asks potential candidates two questions upon sign-up: “why do you want to be followed?”, and “why should someone follow you?”. If you are selected, McCarthy herself will then set about shadowing you for an entire day – keeping out of sight, but “within your consciousness”. After the process is over, you’re then left with one secret souvenir photograph, taken at any given point of the day.

McCarthy has already followed 15 people since starting the project in January – and, somewhat surprisingly, the response has been very positive. “I really loved the experience,” says one anonymous user. “It was comforting to know that all day someone was continuously thinking about me and knowing where I was. I felt a little bit guilty for not being more interesting. I spent the day in an office, so I knew my follower is probably just downstairs waiting for me to do something... (but) I would definitely do it again.”

“It was a big relief to find at the end of the day that the meal I forgot to Instagram did not go unnoticed”

But ...why? What can a person seriously get out of an experience like this? McCarthy stresses that it’s very much open to interpretation, and suggests that being followed in this way could actually help heighten our day-to-day lives. “When we think about our interactions online, it seems we are always craving attention, likes, affirmation of our existence,” she explains. “Even with hundreds or thousands of followers, we still feel this lacking sometimes.” With “Follower”, she wants to apply this theory to real life – examining how one real faceless follower can compare to all of our countless online ones.

The similarities between the two worlds are definitely noticeable. In an echo of their behaviour on social media, one ex-followee found that they were randomly “filtering” their actions for McCarthy’s benefit. “I felt the need to do activities that were fun and reminiscent of the lives my friends appear to lead on Facebook,” they revealed. “I became self-conscious of being boring and wished I could let my follower know when my activities were exciting. It was a big relief to find at the end of the day that the meal I forgot to Instagram did not go unnoticed.”

For McCarthy – whose previous projects have been more focused on her own awkward social behaviour – this performance is an attempt to look outward, and turn her attention to others.“There is something strangely intimate about the whole thing for me,” she says. “By the end of the day, I feel as though I know them, and we have had a prolonged experience together. I’ve followed them through the rain, watched them play tennis, eat with friends, watch a movie, shop for groceries, walk to and from their homes. At times, it seems they’re doing things just for me, or maybe they even notice me, but I can’t ever be sure.”

On-demand apps are more popular than ever at the moment. Aside from the growing success of hook-up sites like Tinder and Grindr, a new range of “find a friend” alternatives are coming to the fore; offering Uber-like rental services for human beings. It’s a grim and disturbing progression – and one that McCarthy is very conscious of. “In these apps, you request a person then watch as they move toward you on the map in your app to provide a service,” she says, with concern. “The danger here is that one might forget it's a person and see them more as a blue dot, an uber car, a product being delivered, and act as such. I wanted to invert that a bit. In “Follower”, the person summons me, but then they can't track my position, instead I see them on my map. Rather than a dot in their app, they get only the idea of a real person out there, following them.”

While the app is currently only available in New York, the chances of it heading anywhere else right now are unlikely. McCarthy, who knows the dangers of setting up unknown “Followers” in other cities, is keen to keep the idea as positive as possible – and is aware that it could easily stumble into something a lot darker. “Follower is generally optimistic in its intentions,” she stresses, adding that her main goal is just to use technology in “novel and interesting” ways. 

“I can definitely say the interactions I've had through this performance are different than any others I've experienced before,” she concludes, hopefully. “I don't really know how something like this could feasibly scale, but if we could deal with the safety issues, it's interesting to imagine a world where we might provide real-life following as a service to one another.”

See more of Lauren’s work on her website here