Everything Then is Now
– Alter Peckham

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• Exhibition: Everything Then is Now – Alter Peckham

• Title: Halloween Food Fable

• Venue: Old Waiting Room at Peckham Rye Station

• Date: 16/09/25 - 21/09/25

• Presented by SPIRA9 in partnership with the London Design Festival and Southwark Council, with support from the Architectural Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, and Frieze

• ​Description: Halloween Food Fable" is an animated exploration of the unspoken transformation of Halloween—from its ancient Celtic roots to its modern, commercialized incarnation. The work delves into the fragmented history of the holiday, revealing how its original cultural and spiritual significance has been overshadowed by the noise of consumerism and Western capitalism. Through a visual and auditory journey, the animation begins with organic, natural elements—food, scenes, and sound effects that evoke the agrarian spirit of Samhain, the Celtic festival that birthed Halloween. As the animation progresses, these elements gradually shift, becoming increasingly artificial, modern, and industrialized, mirroring the way Halloween has been stripped of its cultural depth and reduced to a spectacle of decorations, costumes, and sweets. The work speaks to the unspeakable: the silencing of cultural and nonhuman entities in the face of global consumerism. It questions whether the celebration of Halloween today pays adequate homage to its origins or if it has become hollow, profit-driven event. The animation serves as a metaphor for the broader cultural erasure that occurs when traditions are commodified, and the voices of history, nature, and nonhuman entities are drowned out by the demands of capitalism. It invites viewers to reflect on the language of silence—the untold stories of the past, the muted voices of nature, and the unspoken consequences of cultural commodification.