The group of media artists Miss Bugs has created for their exhibition “Do No Harm“, a substantial collection of 900 vibrant and colorful ice lollipops. The cheerfulness of the colors contrasts with the objects that are hidden within each of them. Each icicle is made up of three layers of resin inside which there are pharmaceutical products, painkillers, blades of
Miss Bugs has long explored the idea of addiction to digital technology and how our “consumption” of such devices acts dangerously on our psyche by anesthetizing us and obscuring our perception of reality.
The choice of icicles is subtle and intelligent. We are told that social media is a nice way to keep us connected, sweetening the impression to hide the truth. “The icicles are the cauldron of social networks; the selfie posing, the photos of the foam on top of the coffee and the nice videos on the animals we all love to eat, but inside there is rotten and sick”, says Miss Bugs.
“Digital technology, while being a sweetener in our lives, perpetually distracts us with a constant and engaging flow of information and temptations. The Internet becomes a space where reason and logic are reached by false news, and people with extreme opinions can shout at each other. The candy on the outside of the sugar covers the inner disease”.
The installation of the gallery will see the “lollies” presented in “pharmaceutical order”. They will be sold in packs of medicines, with instructions for application, how to store them and a warning of side effects.
The exhibition will take place from 4 – 21 July 2019 at the Jealous Gallery Shoreditch and then move to the Jealous Gallery Crouch End from 4 – 29 September 2019.
Text by Elisa Scotti
