KWM artcenter is pleased to present Rachel Maclean’s first solo exhibition in China from 16 November 2018 to 16 February 2019. The exhibition presents 2 film installations, a set of 6 digital prints and a newly commissioned VR work. The aim of the exhibition is to introduce Maclean’s practice to a new audience. Social media, advertising, children’s television programmes and fairy tales appear regularly in Maclean’s work highlighting the key themes of identity, gender, consumerism and our dependence on technology.

Rachel Maclean is considered one of the most important and distinctive artists at work in the world today. Playing many of the costumed characters herself in her films, Maclean fuses both comedy and horror acted out against hyper-real worlds using green-screen video and computer generated visual effects. Her work is a powerful satire of contemporary society exposing all its colourful and alluring yet grotesque aspects.

In the main space we are exhibiting the film installation It’s What’s Inside That Counts (2016). The film borrows techniques that global corporations use to sell well-being, youth and happiness by flooding us with imagery and feeding our anxieties. Playing all of her characters herself, Maclean uses green-screen film techniques and animated backdrops to create foreboding environments. The We Want Data print series accompanies the film and depicts a dystopian metropolis in which a Kardashian-like demigod rules over a data addicted population.

In the education room we are showing Feed Me (2015), in which Maclean plays multiple characters including a pre-teen social media fanatic, a middle aged business man and a doe-eyed children’s entertainer. The film follows the marketing logic that to attain happiness we must follow our desires. It asks the question of what happens when our desires lead us to wanting more, creating ever more unattainable dreams.

In the third room we show her newest work, a VR project entitled I’m Terribly Sorry (2018), commissioned by Zabludowicz Collection, London and made in collaboration with Werkflow. The interactive experience is set in a dystopian urban British landscape of manic tourist merchandise. It reflects on societal unease and misunderstanding in a culture of relentless documentation, self-performance and voyeurism.

About the Artist

Based in Glasgow, Rachel Maclean (b.1987, Edinburgh，Scotland) graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2009 and her work came to public attention in New Contemporaries later that year. She has since received significant acclaim, with major solo shows in the UK at Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, Chapter Gallery Cardiff, HOME Manchester，TATE Britain London and Zabludowicz Collection London.

Maclean’s international solo presentations include: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; National Gallery of Australia Canberra; Artpace San Antonio, Texas; Château de Servières, Marseilles France.

Maclean’s international group exhibitions include: The Art of Dissonance Exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), Korea; A Nonexistant Place: JUT Art Museum, Taiwan; TECHSTYLE Series 1.0: Ariadne’s Thread at MILL 6, Hong Kong; Hello World, Contemporary Art Gallery, Mito Arts Foundation Japan.

Her work A Whole New World won the prestigious Margaret Tait Award in 2013, she has twice been shortlisted for the Jarman Award, and achieved widespread critical praise for Feed Me in British Art Show 8 in 2016. She has also worked on a number of TV commissions with BBC Scotland and Channel 4, which include; Billy Connolly Life of a Portrait in 2017 and Rachel Maclean The Shopping Centre, Artist in Residence with Firecrest Films and Channel 4 in 2018.

Maclean represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale 2017 with the newly commissioned work Spite Your Face. Her most recent TV project Make Me Up broadcast across the UK on BBC 4 in November 2018.

About the Exhibition

The exhibition exclusive VR tech enabler is LumiereVR. Exclusive audio equipment sponsor is KEF，a British Hi-Fi brand. ZAOZUO is the exclusive furniture exhibition partner. The exhibition special sponsor is world financial centre·beijing.

金杜艺术中心（KWM artcenter）
The KWM artcenter opened on 20th October 2016. It is located on the second floor of the WFC centre CBD in Beijing. The Art center is supported by the law firm King & Wood Mallesons. The KWM artcenter presents and promotes artists both domestically and overseas as well as building up its own collection. In particular, it acts as a rare art institution at the heart of the economic central area in Beijing. It provides high-quality art educational activities and courses aimed to cultivate art lovers and collectors. It serves to improve the international influence of Chinese Art and become a powerful communicator of Chinese Contemporary Art.