Pique (Madame Geisha, Brighton)

Pique, by The Breadbin Project, tells the story of a woman’s obsession with beauty and explores the concepts of ego, pride, vanity, jealousy, and plastic surgery. The artist, Jane Doe, played by Katie Aldis invites participants to examine her life through painting, sculpture, video and live performances as they are lead through various rooms in a nightclub. 

This interactive, experimental art exhibition is an excellent concept, but unfortunately, it lacks the impact necessary to engage or even provoke the participants. The most interactive element to this exposition is the opportunity to stick your head in a mirrored box to look at your own reflection in order to examine your own notions of vanity.

It is difficult at times to determine what is a part of the exhibit and what is merely decoration in the nightclub. Were it not for the signs disguised around the room explaining the concept, you can easily mistake Doe’s pieces with the trendy décor.

The art is average and amateur, complete with painted mannequins and sculptures of tin foil silhouettes admiring themselves in mirrors. Jane Doe’s first attempt at video art is merely a collection of photos of Hollywood actors. The display is missing out on anything hard-hitting and does not even explore unusual or alternative forms of beauty to make the audience question their own ideas of beauty.

The live performances are an unexpected surprise which breathe life into the experience. The actors appear out of nowhere which adds a bit of excitement to the otherwise low key event, but their routines are histrionic and unoriginal.

Overall the experience is strange and disappointing and does not deliver the thought provoking journey I was looking forward to. The flow from room to room is disjointed and involves too much standing around and waiting. The entire performance takes thirty minutes, but in my opinion, it is about twenty minutes too long.