Longitudes
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Fischli & Weiss premiere their new film 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' at the Teatro Arsenale, Milan
Wed, Jan 21 2009
As enthusiasts of Peter Fischli & David Weiss' peerless work, we are excited to hear about their upcoming film premiere in Milan: 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' (2008). The piece, produced by the Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan, was filmed in the same venue, the spectacular 17th Century Palazzo Litta, that hosted the Trussardi's leg of the artists' survey show 'Flowers & Questions' last February.
In the first two films of their famed 'rat and bear' saga ('The Point of Least Resistance' (1981) & 'The Right Way' (1983)) the artists explore exhibitions, Los Angeles' streets, or the bucolic mountains, dark forests and treacherous ravines of the Swiss Alps, wearing costumes of a giant bear and a rat. With no real aim in mind, the bear and the rat bungle along in folk tales of their own devising – these films are both monumental and intimate, serious and hilarious.
In the new 3-screen film 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' (2008), the animals "return to cubhood and wander through the stuccoed, frescoed halls of Palazzo Litta, playing with the bizarre sculptures and peculiar images that inhabit them. Through constant flashbacks and visions of the future, the two look at their own reflected images, encounter themselves in old age, and play with their ancestors in youth, in a constant reversal of roles that seems inspired as much by '2001: A Space Odyssey' as by Grimms’ fairy tales." [1]
Premiere of 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear' by Peter Fischli & David Weiss
16 February 2009, 6.30pm
Teatro Arsenale
Via Cesare Correnti, 11 / Milan, Italy
Open daily 10 am to 8 pm, from 16 to 22 February 2009
Free admission
Clips from 'The Right Way' and 'The Point of Least Resistance' below:
[1] As described in the Press Release (link here)
Images: Peter Fischli / David Weiss, 'Parts of a Film with a Rat and a Bear', 2008
Video stills - 3 HDV-Videos
Produced by Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan
© The Artists. Courtesy Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Monika Sprüth & Philomene Magers, Berlin/London; Matthew Marks Gallery, New York.
