Art in America - March 2016_

ART IN AMERICA 71

BACKSTORY

Peek-a-Boo

by Bice Curiger

TRIX WETTER, the designer ofParkett, took this photo in
1986 at Sonnabend Gallery, when it was still downtown on
West Broadway. We were on a trip to New York becauseParkett
had an office there; it was a happy coincidence that Peter and
David had a show at the same time. We were incredibly proud
that our friends were showing at this prestigious gallery. The
sculpture, of a stylized animal made of polyurethane, cloth and
a thin coat of gypsum, was hollow: when you look into a hole in
its bottom you see the animal’s schematic face at the other end.
It had this very specific Fischli/Weiss humor.
I met them in the mid-’70s, when I was in my 20s. Peter is a
bit younger than me, and David was about two years older. David
was doing these big gouache drawings—very poetic, beautiful
work. At this time there was a very lively music scene in Zurich;
Peter designed record covers and really fantastic fliers for an
all-woman band called Kleenex (they eventually became quite suc-
cessful in London and had to change their name to LiLiPUT).
In 1980, I curated a show about the merging art and
music scenes in Zurich and included Fischli/Weiss’s first
collaborative work, the now famous “Sausage Series.” I
intended to includeLeast Resistance(1981), their first “Rat
and Bear” film, but it wasn’t finished in time, so we showed

the “Sausage” photos instead. We also organized an evening

with all these punk and new wave bands. That same sum-

mer there were riots in Zurich, and the press perceived them

as connected to my show, which wasn’t true. It was quite

an interesting moment—a generational shift. It was a bit

shocking for people who had conservative ideas about art

and culture. Before Fischli/Weiss, artists had to emigrate in

order to have an international career. In the 19th century

they went to Munich or Paris, and after the war they went to

New York. I think Fischli/Weiss are part of the first genera-

tion who didn’t have to leave.

I’ve worked with them on many other occasions over

the years: I co-curated (with Lynne Cooke) “Doubletake”

at London’s Hayward Gallery in 1992, and organized their

traveling retrospective in 2006-07 with Vicente Todoli. And

I included their work in the Venice Biennale in 2011, when I

was the director. The Venice sculptures were the last big

pieces the two made together before David died in 2012. But

they have a different mood; they’re much more melancholic,

almost like metaphysical objects.

— As told to Leigh Anne Miller

Bice Curiger with

Fischli/Weiss’s

sculptureAnimal,

1986, at Sonnabend

Gallery, New York.

Photo Trix Wetter.

CURRENTLY

ON VIEW

“Peter Fischli

David Weiss: How

to Work Better,” at

the Guggenheim

Museum, New York,

through Apr. 20.

BICE CURIGER is

the artistic director

of the Fondation

Vincent van Gogh

Arles and a co-

founder ofParkett.