Nadia Ismail – författare

Colourful worlds with a critical messageDistressingly sweet worlds, whimsical narratives, and tipping moments: in the works of artist Rachel Maclean, we encounter cute babies and faceless mothers or deepfake Hollywood stars in an action-packed battle for “reality.” In her immersive installations, the artist takes us to alternative universes in which sweetness turns to horror and visual perception is shaken. This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibitions if it looks like a duck … at Kunstpalais Erlangen (2023) and Mama Mimi Duck at Kunsthalle Giessen (2024) and brings them to life in a stunning way. It is also the first monograph presenting Rachel Maclean's works since the early 2020s, thus providing fresh insights into her sophisticated artistic game with our perception of reality.

Ever since her student years at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Louisa Clement (b. 1987) has investigated the transformation of human communication, especially in digital space and social media. One of her primary interests is the increasingly widespread display of idealised self-portraits. For her most recent work, entitled Repräsentantinnen/ Representative, Clement has created copies of herself that are as fascinating as they are unsettling. In collaboration with a Chinese company specialising in the manufacture of sex dolls, she commissioned life-sized manikins to be made based on parameters of her body that were calculated with the help of body scans, microphotographs, and video recordings of movements. With movable parts and sexually functional, these dolls not only have the same face as their creator, but are programmed to imitate the artist’s facial expressions and to communicate and interact with spectators and the surrounding worldThis publication documents Clement’s work and explores various technical, psychological, economic, and ethical questions raised by it. The book also features a sound box that allows it to interact with its readers.Text in English and German.