NUTRIMETICA
NUTRIMETICA
Nutrimetica was a site-specific installation featured in the Next Wave Festival's Nightclub 1: Pure Pleasure program which was held on 21 May 2008, at the adult entertainment venue The Men’s Gallery - 601 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.
One of twenty artists invited to explore the theme of "Pure Pleasure", Nutrimetica offered a unique, immersive experience situated within the private dancing room at the back of the nightclub. The installation took place in a glass-walled room—a small, intimate space that paradoxically combined transparency and privacy. Visible to all from the main area of the club, the glass walls evoked the voyeuristic nature of a peep-show, while simultaneously providing a cocoon of seclusion for those within.
At the heart of Nutrimetica was a striking visual composition: a wall of nine soft, green hearts housing small mirrors, evoking 1980s Channel Nine aesthetics, set against supermarket color schemes. This element was accompanied by a photographic triptych of nouveau cuisine, glowing from angled plinths. The triptych represented the aspirations of wealth from that era, capturing the absurdist culinary aesthetics that emerged as the excesses of 1980s wealth gave way to a new, ostentatious approach to food presentation.
Adding a performative dimension, May Bluebell delivered an abstract jazz rendition of The Carpenters' "Superstar", originally sung by the late Karen Carpenter in 1971. The performance was set to the backdrop of the opening credits of the 1990s hit TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 that had been slowed down to an unintelligible, dream-like soundscape. Karen Carpenter, who tragically passed away in 1983 due to complications related to anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder, symbolized the darker undercurrents of glamour and the pursuit of perfection. This auditory element punctuated the installation, emphasizing the unsettling juxtaposition of glamour and the often destructive aspirations of wealth.
Through this multi-sensory experience, Nutrimetica invoked a nostalgic yet critical reflection on the misguided aspirations of glamour and wealth, exploring how these ideals continue to pervade contemporary culture.