Man Ray’s The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse (1920) – a sewing machine wrapped in a blanket and tied with string – pioneered the notion of an object whose true identity is obscured by packaging.

My layered packaging in works like Castle Lager 001 (2024) or Black Label 004 (2025) operate in the same spirit of the object as enigma. Each successive box or wrapping introduces a new narrative and defers the moment of “unboxing” truth. This deferral is fascination: as Derrida would say, every sign leads only to another sign, and meaning is perpetually deferred in an endless “web of signification”. You open one box only to find another box inside – a regress that enacts Derrida’s différance in physical form – the meaning is always just out of reach, postponed to the next layer and the next:

Beer, beer can, elaborate packaging of beer can, protective packaging for elaborate packaging of beer can, logistical packaging for protective packaging for elaborate packaging of beer can, etc.

Doos Theory (2025)

© Matt Watt 2025. All rights reserved.