SÍM

This is a documentation/performance project that has been ongoing since 2019. The title of the project is inspired by a Facebook group with the same name (Fy fan va billigt: Malmö). The work consists of large-format prints of photographed objects. The objects in the images are the cheapest objects available at various kiosks and corner stores around Malmö. They are obtained by entering the store and asking for the single cheapest object in the entire store. These objects include candy, envelopes, single rolling papers and chewing gum, to name a few. They are then documented, and the photograph is printed on the cheapest paper at the cheapest print-shop in Malmö.

This project came about when there was much discussion in Swedish politics about Malmo ̈ ‘s “underground economy” and how cheap products were a threat to societal order in Sweden. Malmö, and in particular the neighbourhood of Möllevången often got mentioned in these discussions. I started wondering what this really meant, if these objects really do represent such a threat. The objects in question seem innocuous enough and are kind of what one would expect to receive when asking for the cheapest object in the store. As such, they are interesting for what they are, and I’ve found the audience to be both interested, and often surprisingly nostalgic about the objects.