Peter Fischli and David Weiss—The Point of Least Resistance

Swiss artists Peter Fischli, born 1952 and David Weiss (1946–2012) gained worldwide recognition for the multifaceted body of work that they jointly created from 1979 until Weiss’s premature death, spanning film, video, photography, sculpture, installation, and artist’s books. The Point of Least Resistance, their first film of 1980, already features many of the elements that Fischli and Weiss would later revisit, explore in depth, and rework across all their media. Serious and humorous at the same time, it is an early self-portrait of the duo in which they, dressed as rat and bear, operate as detectives in the parody of solving a case in the art world. The animal-inspired satirical reflections and strategies border on the philosophical. Yet above all, the two protagonists are intent on explaining the world, a concept they elaborate on in much detail and through their fantastic diagrams.

Bice Curiger and Jacqueline Burckhardt, distinguished experts on contemporary art and the collaborative work of Peter Fischli and David Weiss, explore in this book the origins, context, and impact of The Point of Least Resistance, a landmark of Swiss art.

Text in English and German.