The Way Things Go, perhaps the best-known work by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss, features a large kinetic sculpture. A variety of household objects and junk are powered using home-made chemical reactions, explosions and gravity to create an incredible 100 foot long chain reaction which is sustained for the 30 minute length of the film.
Using the banal stuff of daily life, The Way Things Go captures a witty and seemingly effortless chain of events. Without music or narrative, the viewer is forced to concentrate on the almost lifelike interaction between the objects themselves. An installation in which the artists are everywhere but also ironically absent, The Way Things Go creates a sense of suspense in which even the smallest and most mundane thing has a specific role to play. Whilst in a sense retaining their function - wheels roll and substances are poured from containers - commonplace objects are provided with new reference points.
Fischli and Weiss are based in Zurich and have been collaborating since 1979. Their work combines sculpture, photography and film.
