Unboxing

A byproduct of today's consumer society, defined by online shopping and home delivery, is the rise of 'unboxing' videos, which document the opening of coveted products. This phenomenon piqued the interest of Fritz Hendrik IV, who created his own version of the process. In addition to the video presented here, he exhibited the boxes he filmed on custom-made shelves, along with paintings of individual moments from the process. Fritz Hendrik IV does not direct his attention to the contents, but rather to the packaging, i.e. the boxes that are taken apart like a Matryoshka doll (sometimes called a Babushka), where the content is a series of progressively smaller boxes. In the work, he shares an experience with the audience, capturing anticipation and fueling curiosity.

Boxes and their contents are well-known motifs in art history, for example Pandora's box in Greek mythology and the boxes of Fluxus artists in the latter half of the 20th century. With this work, Fritz Hendrik IV takes a mundane internet phenomenon from the early 21st century and presents it in a solemn and mysterious manner that recalls older works in art history where the box is treated as an object imbued with great significance.