Assortment

photography
48 c-prints, framed
each 18 x 18″ (45 x 45 cm)
2005

The photographs show an assortment of everyday products from all over the world. Instead of the original label, the names of the products are written on the containers in black letters on a white background using the respective local language. We are irritated by a well-known water bottle that simply says “water”, while salty Japanese pickled plums with the inscription 梅干 (umeboshi) do not seem strange at all. Conversely, in Japan, umeboshi are irritating, while cocktail sausages pass as normal. The fact that we eat unknown things is accepted there just as much as the fact that we label our products with incomprehensible names. So in the end, the labelling contains no information, neither for those who know the language, who recognise what the contents are anyway, nor for strangers, who neither know the contents nor can decipher the labelling.

The labels are therefore redundant with regard to their reference system. The familiar variants are irritating, while the incomprehensible ones seem credible. Outside their frame of reference, they gain an imaginary meaning that is simply assumed. Here, the limitations of everyday experience become apparent. Especially the well-known seems alienating and deserves the greatest doubt.