Still of “Flooded McDonald’s” (2009), courtesy of the artists and Peter Blum Gallery, New York. Produced by the Propeller Group in cooperation with The South London Gallery, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the Oriel Mostyn Gallery and the Danish Film Institute.

There were a few toddlers in attendance when I saw Flooded McDonald’s, the new Black Box video installation at the Hirshhorn, and the kids’ concern at the drowning swirl of McDonaldlandania made me wonder if the experience would scar them for life. Would they be able to chow down on a Happy Meal without thinking of drowning? Would they develop a healthy mistrust of fast food? Might they just switch to Burger King?

Like it or not, the Golden Arches are a ubiquitous part of American and global life, and this 21-minute video loop by the Danish artist collective Superflex keenly reflects our love/hate relationship with the spawn of Ray Kroc.

The Hirshorn is celebrating five years of their Black Box film and video series with this compelling and provocative piece. It seems simple enough — so simple, in fact, that you envy what you imagine are the peerless grant proposal writing skills of its creators, who built a life-size replica of a McDonald’s and then flooded the damn thing. But that simplicity opens it up in ways as complex as the relationship between art and commerce, spectacle and introspection. And, yes, fries come with that shake.