fischli & weiss: suddenly this overview at venice art biennale

fischli & weiss: suddenly this overview at venice art biennale

mick jagger and brian jones going home satisfied after composing ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ (close-up)

image © designboom

peter fischli (1952) and david weiss (1946-2012) began collaborating together in 1979, focusing on the banal aspects of our lives, valorizing the childish and the wondrous; exploring these themes through simple means and everyday artifacts, often resulting in humorous, but equally moving works. their on-going project ‘suddenly this overview’ (1981-) –see designboom’s coverage of the 2008 presentation here— is a composition of more than 200, unfired clay sculptures in which the duo depicts what appears to be an arbitrary selection of events, words, objects–derived from both the imagined and historical reality –which collectively express notions of theory and praxis such as, ‘madame bovery is dreaming of great love’; ‘mick jagger and brian jones going home satsfied after composing ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’; ‘two apes unable to understand the mystery monolith’; ‘sewer controlling’… each scene is playful in subject and inscription and follows an inscrutable logic, providing a survey of our times which is incomplete, the imperfections reflected in the rough and seemingly unfinished maquettes through which these issues are explored; a celebration of the incomprehensible variety and profusion with which our world exists.

the multi-layered installation is presented at the 2013 venice art biennale, in the central pavilion of the giardini venue, whereby each sculpture is individually displayed on a white plinth, which further emphasizes the significance and importance of the subjects and themes at hand.

mick jagger and brian jones going home satisfied after composing ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’image © designboom

the old punkimage © designboom

gotthard’s breakthrough

image © designboom

popular opposites: theory and practiceimage © designboom

brunelleschi invents perspectiveimage © designboom

two apes unable to understand the mystery monolithimage © designboom

the subtenantimage © designboom

max and moritzimage © designboom

popular opposites: up and downimage © designboom

sewer controllingimage © designboom

peter fischli (left) in his venice biennale exhibition