Positive plaster casting of Bayer migraine pills put inside of K-Max melatonin bottle.

Yuhanxiao (Maggie) Ma is a research artist who works with multimedia installations, generative art, 3-D scanning/fabrication and crafting. Influenced by speculative science fiction and prevalent concepts in postmodernism, her works lie at the intersection of art and technology and skirt the line between fiction and reality. Focusing primarily on emerging technological innovations, she wishes to evaluate their implications for some of the most durable and precious aspects of human life, including our identities and social relations, privacy and politics, work, and equality.

Inspired by Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation and the methodology of parafiction (presenting fictional things as if they are real), The Pills is a project that mimics the aesthetic and semiotics of a commonplace consumer product to create an uncanny, thought-provoking experience. Packaged in a real pill bottle, the audience is welcomed to interact with this object and touch the plaster pill replica. The piece serves as a poignant commentary on the commodification of well-being, raising questions about the efficacy of medication (Placebo Effect), and the contemporary pharmaceutical industry.