Der Lauf der Dinge / Untitled

Peter Fischli / David Weiss

FISCHLI/WEISS
Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go, 1987)

Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go, 1987) is one of the most iconic works created by Swiss artists Peter Fischli (1952–) and David Weiss (1946–2012). This thirty-minute film unfolds as a journey in which a succession of everyday objects and mechanical elements roll, tip over, burn, spill, and propel one another forward, setting off an extended chain reaction of causes and effects.

An allegory of contingency and entropy infused with Fischli/Weiss's signature wit, the work exemplifies the artists' experimental approach and their fascination with elaborate fictitious structures, trompe-l'œil, and illusion.

Throughout the film, the meticulously choreographed sequence of events creates the impression that the objects have mysteriously escaped human control, acquiring a life of their own. Each transition generates suspense about what will happen next, and time and again it seems impossible that a crucial transfer of energy could actually occur. The constant sense that chaos and collapse are imminent is counterbalanced by the irregularities and unexpected exceptions that repeatedly keep the system from grinding to a halt.

A compelling meditation on uncertainty and the absurdity of everyday life, Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go) vividly conveys the pleasure the artists found in making the work—through dismantling and reassembling objects, achieving moments of precarious balance, and embracing the inevitability of collapse.

From 1979 to 2012, the artists collaborated on a body of work spanning multiple media that explored the everyday and examined, through deceptively playful constructions, the ways in which we perceive ordinary life. Reappropriating cultural genres with humor—from low-budget Hollywood films and magazine imagery to the historical artistic concept of the ready-made—they invite viewers to question how reality is constructed and how the world is perceived.

PETER FISCHLI
Untitled (2018)

Alongside Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go), and presented for the first time in France, LUMA showcases a more recent video by Peter Fischli that is, in many ways, the antithesis of the earlier work.

Lasting just two minutes, Untitled (2018) playfully evokes summertime, vacations, and joy. Presented on screen, the video opens with the sun rendered as a luminous abstract form suspended in a vast, ultraviolet-filtered sky. By staging the sun at the hottest moment of the day, Fischli creates the sensation of an invented space—one of both infinite possibility and intense concentration.

As the sound of cicadas evokes memories of Mediterranean summers, the camera slowly shifts to isolate a small plastic water bottle at the edge of the shoreline. The bottle twirls playfully in an irregular, whimsical choreography that conjures fantasies of escape and leisure. Suddenly, it unexpectedly plunges into the water, an event accompanied by a lighthearted melody reminiscent of animated cartoons.

The remarkable simplicity of this ordinary scene, along with the surprise and fleeting sense of loss it provokes, stands in striking contrast to the intricate scenario unfolding in Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way Things Go).

Video presented with the kind support of Peter Fischli.