We all know what happens when you ‘see red’. What about ‘seeing pink’? Curiously, pink is a colour that reduces aggression, according to scientists, which is why it is painted on the walls of Rachael Crowther’s latest installation at Chisenhale Gallery.
In this work, entitled Liquid Trust, Crowther has recreated the feel of wartime supervision and control. Part of a current artistic trend to venture beyond the visual, the exhibition is infused with a range of subtle olfactory stimuli, including powdered milk and the scent of chemicals emitted by the human body.
At the centre of the aromatic ‘Baker-Miller pink’ gallery sits Health Control Post NBK 174 001. This wartime health observation unit, used by the British Armed Forces, twists the mind with its inversion of all we associate with wellness. Walk into the compact structure, and you are bombarded with messages of danger: ‘CONTAMINATION MAY BE PRESENT’, ‘CONDUCT IN HAZARDOUS ZONE’, ‘INSECURE POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX’, ‘WARNING: OPENING THE COVER MAY EXPOSE DANGEROUS VOLTAGES’.
Wartime strategies of psychological engineering are a familiar part our cultural narrative. Alas, state efforts at manipulation have not left us. Think the ‘nudge’ tactics developed by psychologists and promoted by Behavioural Insights Team in the Cabinet Office, or the constant monitoring of our activities by facial recognition technology. The Health Control Post is revealing for the baldness of its efforts, but the strategies it evokes are still with us, uncovered in Crowther’s evocative juxtaposition of nurturing and surveillance.
Rachael Crowther: Liquid Trust
Until 14 June 2026
Chisenhale Gallery
64 Chisenhale Road, E3 5QZ
