Culture shocks

McDonald’s has become a regular on the art scene, where it is used as a symbol for imperialism, globalisation, racism and duplicity by artists including the Chapman Brothers and Banksy.

Walk by too fast and you’ll miss it, but McDonald’s also makes an appearance in a powerful and complex piece by Jaime Hayon and long-term collaborator, artist Nienke Klunder. Initially, their piece Limousine Table speaks unsettlingly of hospital gurneys and mahogany coffins. But shift your perspective and the table transforms into a stretch limo with wheel arches that resemble the infamous McDonald’s logo.

The concepts of greed, trash culture and death collide in this table, which you wouldn’t want to eat your dinner off. In upcoming show Loaded, it is complemented by another car-inspired table – El Ultimo Grito’s forceful Ferrari Red fibreglass creation.

El Ultimo Grito is also showing a selection of Pyrex blown-glass pieces from its Imaginary Architectures collection, which appeared in the UK last spring at the group’s solo show, Dialogues. Finding inclusion in Loaded are Hotel, Spa and Theatre, their delicate spaces vaguely reminiscent of the buildings they are named after, but also somehow of insects or animals.

Physical distortion and discomfort loom large in this show, that also brings together pieces by international artists and designers Studio Makkink & Bey, Karen Ryan and fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, who is continuing his expeditions into the world of art.