I'm going to start this off by saying I fucking love MOD.
MOD. is everything that Adelaide needs. It's conceptual. It makes you think. It values the journey of the audience through its halls and understands that art is open to interpretation to the individual. The best art, in my opinion, is that which evokes different thoughts, opinions, and feelings from one observer to the next.
I recently got into a twitter fight with a BTS fan because they refused to research the social commentary and complexities behind Australian sweetheart and comedian, Alex Williamson. And let me just say, people who approach different art forms with an already established idea of what good art is, or even just what art is to begin with, annoys me.
But MOD. provides experiences that forces you to re-evaluate your thinking.
HEDONISM is the word of the day, brought to you by X-rated Sesame Street.
As a mid-twenties self-proclaimed gallivanter, I would like to think I have a good idea of hedonism. And the MOD. exhibition was truly an explorative experience that challenges your own perceptions of pleasure-seeking in a modern world - leaving me asking one question after the launch night;
"Is doing what feels good without limitations healthy?"
I'm going to leave you to explore the exhibition yourself and then draw your own questions after you visit all of the installations in MOD.
I tell all of my friends that when you visit MOD., experience it in different ways. Go alone on a Sunday morning, go with friends after work, go multiple times in different ways because the exhibition is designed to be experienced and how you react compared to others is an exhibition in itself.
I tell all of my friends that when you visit MOD., experience it in different ways. Go alone on a Sunday morning, go with friends after work, go multiple times in different ways because the exhibition is designed to be experienced and how you react compared to others is an exhibition in itself.
***SPOILERS BELOW FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T YET BEEN TO MOD. HEDONISM***
My favourite, and I mean FAVOURITE part of the Hedonism exhibition was the 'Pleasure Arcade 5000'. Playing on how we draw pleasure from our surroundings, whether authentic or not, I feel like this part of MOD. was really well thought out and executed.
Think gaming addiction. Think virtually fabricated affection. Think those parents who neglected their baby because they were gaming and it passed away because of the addiction to the dopamine that gaming caused.
One part, in particular, is one of the booths, where upon entry, you're faced with a big blue button. And you know what we like to do with big blue buttons.
When you press the button a whir brings the screen in front of you to life, where you're faced with a person, looking straight at you, vulnerable and piercing.
They then continue to speak in a way that seems like they're only speaking to you, and they compliment you.
"You just light up the room every time"
"I'm so glad I met you"
"I'm a better person because of you"
Specifically chosen words, I'm sure with research and data put in behind the scenes, with the pure intention of sparking emotion. When you're standing there listening to these compliments, they feel genuine. You feel valued, loved, connected with, in the most human way.
All from a screen.
All fabricated.
Very Black Mirror.
It raises the question, will the future cater to humans emotions in a way where we feel good from created content? That we fulfill our animalistic need for affection and attention through robots, screens, or even pre-programmed emotional hard drives we can wire directly into our brains to feel certain things? ~Spooky~
Anyway, I loved it.
Check out MOD. this Winter on North Tce.
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