The Fischli and Weiss

The Way Things Go (Der Lauf der Dinge) is a thirty-minute film by Swiss artists PeterFischli and David Weiss featuring a series of chain reactions involving ordinary objects. It is alsoone of the truly amazing works of art produced in the late twentieth century. Admired, even loved,by members of the public as much as it is praised by the more specialist audience of artists,critics, and curators, The Way Things Go was perhaps the most popular work shown at Documenta 8,Kassel, in 1987. The work embodies many of the qualities that make Fischli and Weiss's work amongthe most captivating in the world today: slapstick humor and profound insight; a forensic attentionto detail; a sense of illusion and transformation; and the dynamic exchange between states of orderand chaos. In discussing what makes The Way Things Go utterly compelling to its viewers--whetherthey have seen it one time or many times--Jeremy Millar leaves no doubt as to why this film waschosen for the One Works series. As everyday objects crash, scrape, slide, or fly into one anotherwith devastating, impossible, and persuasive effect, viewers find themselves witnessing a spectaclethat seems at once prehistoric and postapocalyptic. Millar tells us why this extraordinary filmspeaks to us at the beginning of the twenty-first century. If history is "just one thing afteranother," then The Way Things Go is truly a historic work.Jeremy Millar is an artist. He is theauthor of Place (with Tacita Dean) and has contributed to many artist's monographs. He has alsocurated many solo and group exhibitions internationally. Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weissreceived Europe's most coveted art prize, the Roswitha Haftmann Prize, in November 2006. A majorretrospective of their work, "Flowers and Questions," originating at the Tate, London,travels to Zurich and Hamburg in 2007 and 2008.

Jeremy Millar is an artist. He is the author of Place (with Tacita Dean) and has contributed to many artists' monographs. He has also curated many solo and group exhibitions internationally.