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The Way things go

Switzerland, 1986-1987

Artwork
A still image from The Way things go

Inside a warehouse, artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss build an enormous, precarious structure 100 feet long made out of common household items - tea kettles, tires, old shoes, balloons, wooden ramps, etc. Then, with fire, water, gravity, and chemistry, they create a spectacular chain reaction, a self destructing performance of physical interactions, chemical reactions, and precisely-crafted chaos worthy of Rube Goldberg or Alfred Hitchcock.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

13 February 2005

ACMI Screen Gallery

Credits

creator

David Weiss

Peter Fischli

director

David Weiss

Peter Fischli

editor

Mirjam Krakenberger

Rainer Trinkler

writer

David Weiss

Peter Fischli

Production places
Switzerland
Production dates
1986-1987

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B1001850

Subject category

Digital Art

Object Types

Artwork

Materials

Single channel moving image

Holdings

VHS [PAL]; Copy

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Master

DVD [PAL]; Master

VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master

DVD [PAL]; Copy

DVD [PAL]; Exhibition Copy

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Collected

1 times

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/108204--the-way-things-go/ |title=The Way things go |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=22 July 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}