There are deeper anxieties than bed bugs embedded in our mattresses. Will Benedict animates them with The Bed That Eats, a kind of music video in which the anthropomorphized piece of furniture sings a song by minimalist blues duo Stare Case. The mattress is at first pristine but is soon covered in alcohol and junk food. As the bed consumes its spread, crumbs spew from its “mouth” between the mattress and box springs. Soon, we are down its throat, entering a ghostly yellow McDonald’s with a sign proclaiming “delivery now available.” The video ends with the bed’s house lifting off its foundations, as an errant bone trapped in the dirt foundation spins away and floats in space. Far from a warning against sedentary lifestyles, the hypnotic discomfort that stems from this singing bed lies in the existential nonsense of it all.
Pictured: Will Benedict, The Bed That Eats, 2015, digital video, approx. 6 ½ minutes. Courtesy Bortolami, New York.