Installation with paper and cardboard, Berlin 2003
The language of commercials takes over in Enström's pieces. A labyrinth made of different wrapping material creates a landscape of brand names. This three-dimensional work uses packaging from products such as cigarettes, washing powder and milk so that the branding of daily life is experinced explicitly in a spatial field. A video filmed with a camera moving through the labyrinth offers a similar experience. Watching the video, one feels as if one were trapped in a space of commercial ads leading nowhere; there is no beginning and no end.
Enström examines the commercial world critically by using totalising effects. However, a playful element is also important in her pieces. Moving through the labyrinth or exploring architectural structures made out of packaging is like taking part of a game where one can enter on different levels. The participant is asked to follow the signs, which form an inner logic of a total system. In this way, Enström uses the same methods as in the advertising industry to create an imaginary world.
Helene Nyborg Andersen
