Das Recht mit Füßen treten
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- Trampling on the law
- Das Recht mit Füßen treten
- 1967
- chalk on floor (ready made), 2 b&w photographs, 2 conceptual drawings
Peter Weibel’s interactive installation "Das Recht mit Füßen treten" [Trampling on the Law] is a typical example of a brand of art that began to establish itself in Austria in the 1950s and 1960s. From critiques of language such as those provoked by Ludwig Wittgenstein, through the Vienna Group and Vienna Actionism, artists focused attention on the assumption that our inability to gain precise knowledge about the world is rooted in the nature of our language.
The letters written on the floor in chalk (which spell “Recht,” law) are walked on by the visitors. The design is gradually destroyed through usage, as the letters become smeared and are only partially legible—it is as if they are transformed from a text into an informal picture. But it is only through this process that the artwork is actually consummated. Through its participation, the audience performs the phrase, combining with the design on the floor (text then picture) to constitute the artwork. The performative character—contrasting with traditional definitions of art—and the political content of this work by Peter Weibel make it a typical expression of its time. G.H.
The letters written on the floor in chalk (which spell “Recht,” law) are walked on by the visitors. The design is gradually destroyed through usage, as the letters become smeared and are only partially legible—it is as if they are transformed from a text into an informal picture. But it is only through this process that the artwork is actually consummated. Through its participation, the audience performs the phrase, combining with the design on the floor (text then picture) to constitute the artwork. The performative character—contrasting with traditional definitions of art—and the political content of this work by Peter Weibel make it a typical expression of its time. G.H.