Images(5)

549 kg (poster)

by Pratchaya Phinthong

Artist Pratchaya Phinthong (Thailand, född 1974)

Alternate Title

549 kg (affisch)

Date2017

MediumAffisch, video, fotografi

Dimensions33:29 min

ClassificationPhotography, Posters, Installations, Moving Images

Credit LinePurchase 2018 funded by The Gerard Bonnier Foundation

Countries

Thailand

Object NumberMOM/2018/3

CollectionsThe Gerard Bonnier Collection

The artwork is not on display

About the artworkMigrant workers from Thailand gave Pratchaya Phinthong a unique insight into the working conditions for berry pickers in northern Sweden. Several of them returned home deep in debt due to the expensive airline tickets and lodging. The following year he got himself hired and picked 549 kilos of berries in two months, earning SEK 2513. The employer paid him in cash from a safe. Phinthong’s fellow workers who stayed on for another month were swindled out of their pay: the employer abandoned the site beforehand, leaving behind an unlocked, empty safe. The poster, which pictures of this and 76 other safes, was printed in a quantity that would correspond to the weight of the berries he picked, and is presented to visitors as a gift. The installation also includes a video and stills, a kind of diary Phinthong kept of his work.
Selected exhibition history Samlingsutställning 2019-2022 (den 1 februari 2019 - den 27 augusti 2023) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Manipulera världen (den 21 oktober 2017 - den 21 januari 2018) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Manipulate The World : Connecting Öyvind Fahlström : [Moderna Museet 22/10 2017-17/5 2018] Manipulera världen : Aktivera Öyvind Fahlström : [Moderna Museet 22/10 2017-17/5 2018]

Works by the artist