Making Things Go (1 of 3)

Making Things Go presents a behind the scenes glimpse of the processes and work involved in the making of Fischli and Weiss’s seminal work, The Way Things Go (1985). Where the final work was deliberately devoid of human interference, Making Things Go highlights the human labour and sheer toil of creating such an ingenious and complex construction. It also reveals the collaborative spirit of the work and the equal amounts of joy and frustration in the process. The Way Things Go developed out of their work on Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) (1984–86). Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) are a series of still photographs that document the finely, almost impossibly, balanced objects in towering configurations. As they repeatedly tried to balance objects for those photographs, the artists became acutely aware of the tension that exists between success and failure, an energetic liminal zone pregnant with impending collapse. In 1985 they began to stage scenes that referenced a Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction of everyday objects in an empty warehouse. A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction–type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and impractical, overly complicated way. Usually, these machines consist of a series of simple unrelated devices; the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal. Fischli and Weiss used items like tires, balloons, ladders, and fireworks. Through determination, testing and experimentation, hours of trial and error and finessing the processes, they were able to film the seemingly endless sequence that continually unravelled the comically complicated chain reaction. The sense of continual movement is an illusion, however and the piece comprizes nearly two dozen separate shots filmed without sound over a period of two years. Cleverly concealed edits were masked in the transitions where bright explosions occurred, and audio effects were added in postproduction to further convince of the continuity and lack of human attendance and presence. The final effect is one of seamless ingenuity where objects appear to move of their own volition, free from their usual functions and revelling in their new interconnected, absurdist tasks.

The Way Things Go (2 of 3)

Fischli and Weiss’s film The Way Things Go developed out of their work on Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) from 1984–86. Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) are a series of still photographs that document the finely, almost impossibly, balanced objects in towering configurations.As the artists repeatedly tried to balance objects for those photographs, they became acutely aware of the tension that exists between success and failure, an energetic liminal zone pregnant with impending collapse. In 1985 they began to stage scenes that referenced a Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction of everyday objects in an empty warehouse. A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction–type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and impractical, overly complicated way. Usually, these machines consist of a series of simple unrelated devices; the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal. Fischli and Weiss used items like tires, balloons, ladders, and fireworks. Through determination, testing and experimentation, hours of trial and error and finessing the processes, they were able to film the seemingly endless sequence that continually unravelled the comically complicated chain reaction. The sense of continual movement is an illusion, however, and the piece comprizes nearly two dozen separate shots filmed without sound over a period of two years. Cleverly concealed edits were masked in the transitions where bright explosions occurred, and audio effects were added in postproduction to further convince of the continuity and lack of human attendance. The final effect is one of seamless ingenuity where objects appear to move of their own volition, free from their usual functions and revelling in their new interconnected, absurdist tasks.

Sketch (3 of 3)

Sketch presents what appears to be a single test sequence for the epic video work, The Way Things Go (1985). In this short piece, we see a typical stretch of the chain reaction and witness a possible production sketch of how it may be filmed and sequenced. Fischli and Weiss’s film The Way Things Go developed out of their work on Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) from 1984–86. Equilibres (A Quiet Afternoon) are a series of still photographs that document the finely, almost impossibly, balanced objects in towering configurations.As the artists repeatedly tried to balance objects for those photographs, they became acutely aware of the tension that exists between success and failure, an energetic liminal zone pregnant with impending collapse. In 1985 they began to stage scenes that referenced a Rube Goldberg-style chain reaction of everyday objects in an empty warehouse. A Rube Goldberg machine, named after American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, is a chain reaction–type machine or contraption intentionally designed to perform a simple task in an indirect and impractical, overly complicated way. Usually, these machines consist of a series of simple unrelated devices; the action of each triggers the initiation of the next, eventually resulting in achieving a stated goal. Fischli and Weiss used items like tires, balloons, ladders, and fireworks. Through determination, testing and experimentation, hours of trial and error and finessing the processes, they were able to film the seemingly endless sequence that continually unravelled the comically complicated chain reaction. The sense of continual movement is an illusion, however, and the piece comprizes nearly two dozen separate shots filmed without sound over a period of two years. Cleverly concealed edits were masked in the transitions where bright explosions occurred, and audio effects were added in postproduction to further convince of the continuity and lack of human attendance. The final effect is one of seamless ingenuity where objects appear to move of their own volition, free from their usual functions and revelling in their new interconnected, absurdist tasks.