The Guggenheim Museum is showing the work of two collaborators, Peter Fischli and David Weiss. The highlight of the show for me is a 30-minute video, The Way Things Go, of a series of objects interacting in an extended chain reaction, one object moving in a way that propels the next. But unlike most assemblages of this sort, this one is often excruciatingly, deliciously slow, as one object grows or turns coming closer and closer to affecting the next. It is a delightful exploration of balance, motion, and fire, with explosions, suds, clouds of steam, old tires, bottles of flammable liquid, moving blocks and ladders. You can see an excerpt here.
The video plays like one long, uninterruped take, but it was assembled with trial and error over two years. I kept thinking what a fun two years it must have been.
In addition to the video, the show includes works in clay, cast rubber, photos, slide shows, pen and ink. The impression is of two men who kept their sense of wonder at the world, and played in it their whole lives. David Weiss died in 2012, but hopefully Peter Fischli is still enjoying the world in his own quirky way.
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