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Project Overview

Modern life feeds us the line that happiness comes when we follow our desires. If you have a dream, then chase it. If you have an itch, then scratch it. If you have an urge, then satisfy it. But what if what made us happy only ever left us wanting more, or simply created an ever-bigger hole to fill? Instant gratification – the holy grail of our superficial, accelerated age – is increasingly only a click away; and yet, as we are liable to discover, its effects are frequently over just as quickly – bringing a feeling of emptiness and further intensifying the original craving. Will the next bite of the apple be enough? Is this appetite for consumption becoming addictive, even destructive? Can one have too much of a good thing?

Rachel Maclean’s Feed Me is a parable of the pleasures and perils of indulgence, and a wicked, waspish skit on a world where greed is good, and it’s OK to give in to every temptation and whim. Extravagance and excess, those seductive ugly sisters – whispering to the avarice in our soul, always eager to tickle the sweet spot of the contemporary cultural palate – are, one can hardly fail to notice, also signature features of Maclean’s artistic palette; evident in her obvious love of dressing up and in the multi-layered digital confections with which she drapes and decorates her work. Although these colourful computer-generated effects apply a fantastical candy-coated surface, Maclean lays it on equally thick with make-up, costume and prosthetics: older tricks of the theatrical trade that enable her to appear as multiple characters in a parade of show-stopper performances. These characters, in turn, run the gamut of current fashions, fixations and tastes: the pre-teen social media fanatic, and the silver-fox media entrepreneur; the starry-eyed child entertainer whose golden ticket to fame and fortune is also the meal ticket for the behind-the-scenes mentor, fairy godmother or industry svengali. Feed any of these creatures a line, and they know exactly how and when to act – and how to convey themselves in the best possible light. This frenzy of self-regard (and barely-concealed self-interest) is all frivolous sound and fury but its froth of sweet nothings has a dark and bitter aftertaste, as Maclean lambasts the commercialisation (and sexualisation) of childhood, and deftly skewers a corresponding turn towards infantilisation in adult behaviour. As we continue to feed the monster of contemporary consumerist desire, Maclean’s film is an indelible reminder of all the little monsters that are born in its wake.

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Read text by Steven Bode

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Read text by Jo Thompson

Project details

Feed Me

Hooked at Science Gallery, London

21 September 2018 - 27 January 2019

Feed Me

In my Shoes, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

30 March 2018 - 17 June 2018

Feed Me

Dick Institute, Kilmarnock

13 May 2017 - 26 August 2017

Feed Me

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

1 April 2017 - 1 October 2017

Feed Me

Bury Art Museum

22 November 2016 - 28 January 2017

Feed Me

British Art Show 8, Southampton City Art Gallery

9 October 2016 - 15 January 2017

Feed Me

British Art Show 8: Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

24 June 2016 - 4 September 2016

Feed Me

British Art Show 8, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

13 February 2016 - 8 May 2016

Feed Me

British Art Show 8, Leeds Art Gallery

8 October 2015 - 10 January 2016

Feed Me

Luxembourg City Film Festival 2016

3 March 2016 - 2 December 2024

Feed Me

Cupar Arts Festival, Jordan's Nightclub 

22 June 2016 - 2 December 2024

Feed Me

HOME, Manchester

29 October 2016 - 2 December 2024

Feed Me

HOME, Manchester

5 December 2016 - 2 December 2024

Feed Me

Exeter Phoenix

18 February 2017 - 2 December 2024

More information

Commissioned by FVU and Hayward Touring for British Art Show 8. Supported by Arts Council England and Creative Scotland.

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Media

Stills, Rachel Maclean, 'Feed Me' (2016)
Image Gallery

Stills, Rachel Maclean, 'Feed Me' (2016)

'Feed Me' at British Art Show 8
Image Gallery

'Feed Me' at British Art Show 8

Audio

Rachel Maclean in conversation at BFI South Bank by FVU

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Press

The Guardian | Laura Cumming | ‘British Art Show 8 review – a long haul...'

11 October 2015
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The Guardian | Adrian Searle | 'Where are the laughs? British Art Show 8...'

7 October 2015
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Artsy | Ben Eastham | 'The 2015 British Art Show Heralds the Next Gen of Socially Conscious Artists'

14 October 2015
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The White Review | Anna Coatman | 'None of This is Real'

1 November 2015
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Frieze | Martin Herbert | 'British Art Show 8'

7 November 2015
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