Year: 2020

In Unbox, Alexander Si explores the aesthetics of online shopping and the spectacle of consumption. The one-minute video, played on a docked iPhone, condenses a labor-intensive process of unboxing nested, handmade packages—each one referencing the recognizable scale and proportions of contemporary consumer goods like laptops, tablets, or accessories. The footage draws on the style of viral unboxing videos, with fast cuts and close-up gestures.

Presented alongside the video is a sculptural stack of faux-packaging made from cardstock, foam, and vinyl tape. Hollow yet painstakingly crafted, the boxes emphasize the packaging itself as commodity. Unbox critiques the emotional charge of e-commerce and how pleasure, anticipation, and value are often rooted more in performance than in the product.

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Unbox performed live at the opening of exhibition “Commodity Fetishism” at Square Street Gallery, Hong Kong