‘Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Beauty Unravelled in the Virtual Scroll’ 

Xcessive Aesthetics aim to propose a new mode of reclaiming public space, reconsidering who or what is given space within the museum context and exploring the ‘replica’ across physical-digital space.

The starting point for this installation was a conversation about club bathrooms, in particular the girls bathroom, as a safe space for solidarity and forming bonds with people we’ve just met. Drawing on our own experiences, we wanted to recreate this space and the stories we associate with it as part of a nuanced statement on solidarity and community building across physical and virtual spaces in relation to beauty culture and subcultures. The installation features a series of video montages exploring contemporary beauty culture, especially content on beauty trends produced globally and new technologies in the digital space. The room is designed to evoke the sensory experience of a nightclub bathroom, a semi-public space where complete strangers might feel safe to connect with each other through a mutual affinity for beauty. The installation was an opportunity to feature the work of upcoming practitioners that align with our approach to investigating beauty culture, including the work of Divya Patel and Marie Kolárová, as well as social media content producers who are featured in the videos exploring online beauty subcultures.

Part of The Cult of Beauty exhibition at the Wellcome Collection. 

Project leads:
Teresa Ribiero-Boulting
Dream Chittmittrapap

Team members:
Rhiarna Dhaliwal
Emmy Bacharach
Jade Blanchard-McKinley
Ibiye Camp

Contributors & Collaborators:

Featured Artists:
Divya Patel
Marie Kolárová

Curatorial Assistant:
Selin Kir