The doctor will see you now

A dystopian mash-up of pinkified curiosities with its own emoji trail isn't exactly what you'd expect to find at Birmingham's world-renowned museum and art gallery. Complete with hot pink walls and a film narrated by a sinister looking Care Bear, Too Cute! opened last weekend. We spoke to 31-year-old filmmaker, artist and exhibition curator, Rachel Maclean, to talk chicken-headed geneticists, bears fixated with bananas and some artist next door called Leonardo.

RACHEL ON PINK
"In my first week at college, my painting tutor told me not to use the pot of pink emulsion I'd brought with me because it wasn't "a serious artistic colour". I'm not sure he could put his finger on what offended him so much about the shade, but I got the sense it was something around pink signifying femininity, and femininity not being a serious part of art. I thought, f*ck you, I like it, and I’m using it. Years later, I love the idea of taking pink and talking about big, important ideas with it — forcing people to see and experience pink and femininity in a different way. And in this exhibition, with pink carpets, bunting and walls I get to do exactly that."

RACHEL ON CUTENESS
"Since making horror films when I was little, I've been interested in that moment when the innocent stops being benign and starts being sinister: when you notice something unsettling below that surface cuteness that we're constantly exposed to through advertising and media. Wide-eyed emoticons, cat videos, adult onesies — do they represent cuteness or the infantilisation of adults? Cute can captivate us, then distract us from analysing how we're spending our time, money and brain power. And why are we conditioned to find a cuddly cartoon heart with eyes on it sweet, but put eyes on an anatomical heart — like Alain Miller has in On My Way to Paradise — and the effect is totally different? Dolls? Normally cute. But make them genderless, with long, real hair and an overly tight belt and you might think about the constraints and suffering women feel when trying to keep up with extreme ideas of feminine beauty."

RACHEL ON DR. CUTE
"The effects of cuteness are becoming such a big deal that it's now an academic subject. But rather than writing a book or a long note on what I've learnt to explain the exhibition, I created a Care Bear-like professor to immediately give people an idea of what this collection is about. As you enter the exhibition space, an irreverently large and loud candy-coloured "Dr Cute" starts off articulating facts and definitions but quickly gets distracted by all the cuteness, showing some of the emotional reactions we have to too much sweet. It's me in the video, but I have so much makeup on I don't even recognise myself anymore."

RACHEL ON CHICKEN-HEADED GENETICISTS
"To put together this exhibition, I went round the incredible Museum Collection Centre and the Arts Council Collection. One of the first pieces I knew I had to include was John Isaacs' chicken-headed geneticist [pictured, top of the plinth, middle-finger extended]. I never wanted this exhibition to be too complex but to be accessible on a basic emotional level whatever your level of interest in art. There are 19th-century oil paintings, but also modern mixed media pieces, right next to taxidermy and puppets from Moseley puppet theatre. Plus I created emojis to inject my own language alongside all these works. Without giving too much away, they're going to be pretty hard to miss for anyone visiting." 

RACHEL ON DA VINCI AND CRITICISMS
"Can you even imagine what the audiences coming out of the da Vinci exhibition [opens Feb 1, next door to Too Cute] will think when they see and hear the increasingly manic teachings of Dr Cute ringing out across the gallery? I think da Vinci was a pretty cool guy, and imagine he’d be into what I'm doing but [gesturing towards Heather Phillipson’s True to Size, pictured, from which the word "banana" keeps sounding] I get that the works I have selected aren't for everyone and I invite complaints. I’d prefer people to hate the exhibition than to be indifferent to it. Imagine creating something that was totally forgettable? That would be the worst."

Too Cute continues daily until May 12 and is free to attend.

PICTURES: Too Cute! Heart eyes: Alain Miller — On My Way to Paradise, Genderless doll: Jordan Baseman — Pretty Baby, Bear with bananas: Heather Philipson — True to Size