Inclusion of early video work in group show 'HOOKED: When Want Becomes Need', King's College London, London

‘Hooked’ was the Inaugural exhibition of the Science Gallery, London on 21st September 2018. The Science Gallery is a new interdisciplinary central London venue bringing artists together with scientific researchers, students and local communities. The programme has several themed seasons each year, driven by social / cultural questions arising from contemporary science. It incorporates exhibitions, events, performances, live experiments, open discussions and festivals, all underpinned with artistic research and scientific engagement. Key target audience young people aged 15 – 25. Estimated annual footfall is 300,000.
‘Hooked’ was about the processes of addiction and recovery and how society feeds and sustains both. It drew on world - leading research on the science of addiction from King's College London including researchers from the Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience (IoPPN). Their research was interwoven into video installations, interactive artworks and immersive experiences featured within the show and associated events. Hooked invited audiences to question what makes us as humans vulnerable to addiction and interrogated the underlying factors and routes to recovery ranging from gambling, gaming, smartphones, social media and drugs. It challenged the stigmas associated with addiction, considered addiction as an health issue humans are all susceptible to, and explored how recovery takes many forms. It was developed in association with people who have a lived experience of addiction and comprised international established and emerging artists and photographers.
Three of Billingham’s early vintage video works were exhibited – ‘Playstation (1999)’, ‘Jason Chopping (1998)’ and ‘Tony Smoking Backwards (1998)’. Other work by artists included Rachel Maclean’s Feed Me; photographs from Olivia Locher’s Another Day on Earth series; Melanie Manchot’s Twelve and Joachim Koester’s The Hashish Club. Other exhibiting artists included - Joachim Koester, Carsten Höller, Tony Oursler etc.
There was an extensive events programme that continued the conversations sparked by the artworks in the exhibition inviting audiences to question and consider addiction and recovery from an array of perspectives: how and why do we become addicted? What are the processes of individual and societal recovery? How can we protect ourselves and people living with addiction from harm? And does our consumerist society have a hand in feeding addiction?