ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [29 August 2008]

The 'NIVEA hand cream' is an item in my collection of the 'found objects' which I have been collecting for few weeks, some of which are being accumulated for the purpose of different art projects I am taking part in.

This item was found in the UK but was produced in Germany while I believe that it was sold in Egypt because of the yellow price label sticked on its surface. That means, either someone (western) visited Egypt and bought that cream from there and then brought it with him/her to the UK to be thrown after more than three years of its production. Or an Egyptian or Arab person (Eastern) was also in Egypt and moved the item to the UK. But before all that, the object was produced in Germany and exported to Egypt as everything on the item was printed in German and the word ‘Hamburg’ is one of the few words I was able to recognize which gave me the impression that Hamburg should be the place where the object was produced.

When I checked NIVEA website, I was surprised to find a historical story of NIVEA production which I really enjoyed to the maximum. I never thought about the history of the production of hand cream, why would I think about it anyway?! It sounds silly but it just reminded me that everything has a history. NIVEA cream was born in 1911 after decades of research. Nothing can be done simply!
This NIVEA item is small but it has moved through many countries and passed many borders, while many people could never do that. Although NIVEA are producing their products in the Middle East and products made in their production facilities in Egypt have the same packaging but with Arabic text but there is at least one original (German) item was competing with the ‘arabized’ NIVEA.

The German text printed on the object I found is a sign of its original place of production.
The Egyptian price is a sign of where the object sold.
Founding this object in Cardiff is a sign of the object’s movement.

In my opinion, the previous three signs indicate people’s movement, a movement between East and West. It may also indicate people’s life, a life that could be similar in many aspects regardless the product itself and its direct connection with globalization.