How is our experience of the world affected when it is filtered through large-scale systems? In recent years, I have investigated the aesthetics and economics of standardization—the invisible frameworks that shape transport, tourism, and, by extension, our way of life.
In the exhibition at Galleri Box, the rigid forms of global logistics meet the packaged experiences of the tourism industry. In a video work documenting a cruise from Copenhagen into the Norwegian fjords, the question of authenticity is brought to a head. What happens to our perspective when the fjord is viewed from a buffet restaurant on the twelfth floor, and the monumental landscape is transformed into a moving backdrop outside the window?
We see the amateur photographer documenting an anonymous container ship on the horizon—a human desire to capture a system too vast to fully comprehend. We see two containers that have drifted off course and now bob helplessly in the ocean; a breakdown in otherwise frictionless logistics. The exhibition at Galleri Box is an investigation into the distance that arises when the world becomes a product, and how the standardization of our environments gradually reshapes our ability to experience that which exists outside the mold.
Tobias Liljedahl (b. 1988) is originally from Gothenburg and lives and works in Trondheim, where he also received his education at the Academy of Fine Art. He works primarily with camera-based media, but also explores sculpture and installation. Over the past decade, his practice has centered around essay films addressing large-scale themes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or global free trade.
He investigates these themes through narratives rooted in small, personal experiences. Using this method, he seeks to make vast phenomena comprehensible—both for himself and for the audience. While video works form the core of his practice, they serve as a foundation for developing projects involving sculpture, photography, and installation.
Hedrik Zeitler