Since when has plague and pestilence been this cute? A mosquito in the hands of artist Puck Verkade is an unexpectedly compelling little beast. This still is from Verkade’s video installation Plague (ep. 2), which puts the viewer into the perspective of a mosquito, and into its fantasies about exterminating mankind. According to South London art gallery DKUK, which also doubles as a gender neutral hair salon, where the piece is on show until 11 January, the mosquito is the deadliest species on Earth (as far as humans are concerned). It makes it all the more interesting to place it as the protagonist. “The video is presented as a fragmented narrative, popping up in various spots of the interior, just as mosquitoes do when they find their way into our domestic spaces,” DKUK explains. As with the first episode of Plague, the piece aims to draw parallels between ecological and mental collapse by showing the connections between our interior landscapes, domestic spheres and the global climate crisis.
