An "iconic" work by Fischli and Weiss

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

I usually look in priority in the press releases at what I did not know. So I could not let you ignore that Christie's will sell on December 1 in Zurich a work they describe as an "icon of Swiss contemporary art" in two releases which are exclusively dedicated to it, one in English and the other in German.

This is an installation of 1987 entitled Der Lauf der Dinge (The Way things go) by the Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss. Two low showcases, of 145 x 145 x 57 cm each, contain ordinary objects including two tires, bottles containing flammable products, and many other small things.

This work proceeds from both the ready made and the happening. Indeed, its achievement was the subject of a film that was presented with the artwork at Documenta 8 in Kassel in 1987. If you believe what the press release is saying, the success of the video that was produced from the film was considerable and international. Visitors detected an anthromorphised character in the forty objects presented in the video, starring with a bottle mounted on a roller skate.

Christie's is usually more cautious than its main competitor in its releases and in its estimates. So let us look forward to the estimate of the lot: 900 KCHF. This price includes the original 16 mm reel!

We have in mind, of course, the pharmaceutical and physiological showcases of Damien Hirst, and especially the large showcase of fish and of fish skeletons that was sold almost £ 3 million including expenses by Sotheby's on September 15. But this work by Hirst entitled "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" was made this year, twenty years after our Swiss icon.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The Swiss may be happy with the result. This work has found a new owner for 1 MCHF costs included.