ist das fischli weiss?2 min read

ist das fischli weiss? is a referential swiss art project by klodin erb and eliane ruthishuser. as the title implies the piece seems to be intended as a nod to the famous swiss artist duo fischli/weiss, who in their 1981 video “der lauf der dinge” take a stroll through LA disguised as bear and rat. if i understand it right – and i have to say documentation on the website is rather minimal – erb/ruthishuser have used the bear and rat disguise to create a series of stills in collaboration with a number of photographers and filmmakers and ???. san keller is also involved somehow; i think he created the superslowfading slideshow that can be seen on the startpage of the microsite – this slideshow can be downloaded as a screensaver btw. the individual images are best enjoyed in a “fanzine”, also available for download [PDF], in the form of a clickthrough screenmagazine where titles and some additional information can be found.

what do i think? i like the nod, the reference to fischli/weiss; this aspect situates the project in a sampling and mashup aesthetic that i like very much. some of the individual photographs are also quite brilliant, like the one seen bellow by susanne hofer (THE susanne hofer that i worked with 6 years ago?). however what has been produced with the material on this microsite comes as a bit of a dissapointment. the artists opted for minimal documentation, but i have to admit i need more words here. or possibly even less? it seems that now the site is neither minimal nor very explicit. the work should be either presented in an even more stripped down fashion, as a simple gallery, or then in a much more flashy way. as it is i am mostly left with questions: what was the intent of this project? in what other ways will it be presented? why are there no interactive possibilities, like comments and other features etc.?