Flooded McDonalds
An Analysis of Flooded McDonald’s by Superflex Making the list of the “100 Most Iconic Works of Art of the Last 5 Years” is an outstanding accomplishment that Superflex’s 2009 Flooded McDonald’s achieved. Iconic means “characterized by fame: relating to or characteristic of somebody or something admired as an icon”. This paper will address how Superflex’s Flooded Mcdonald’s became an iconic artwork of the twenty-first century and why this piece became so thought provoking to the art community. What exactly was this artwork? It is just as it sounds, a flooded McDonald’s. This installation piece is a twenty-one minute long film by Superflex an artists ' group founded in 1993 by Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen. Superflex also collaborated with Vietnamese filmmakers to make this film. Within the twenty-one minutes a deserted McDonald’s restaurant becomes submerged into water. What starts with a small drip soon becomes muddled chaos. There is an eerily feeling as the water creeps up on the happy meals, trays, and familiar furniture. As the water floods in you can hear the faint sound of machines in the restaurant. There are no staff, customers, or actors rather the paper cups, wrappers, fries, and a statue of Ronald McDonald, a well-known mascot for the McDonald’s burger chain are the main characters. Surprisingly enough what looks like a genuine McDonald’s diner, is a model the artists designed from their own memory. The model was constructed in a large swimming pool in which they slowly filled up with 80,000 liters of water. As the film continues you start to wonder why the there are half eaten meals. It seems as if this McDonald’s restaurant was abandoned. They repeatedly go back and forth to the same frames so you can see how the water level is rising. The higher the water gets the closer it gets to the computers where sparks begin to fly, while wrappers of eaten hamburgers and fries float past. Soon the toys that sat in the
Cited: Decter, Joshua. "Superflex: PETER BLUM GALLERY." Artforum International 48.8 (2010): 199+. Biography in Context. Web. . 13 Apr. 2014. Mosley, Jonathan Halle, Howard. “Superflex, “Flooded McDonalds.” TimeOut New York. N.p. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. Superflex. Flooded McDonald’s. 2009. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Warhol, Andy. Death and Disaster Series. 1963. Web. 13. Apr. 2014. Appendix