I believe this piece, The Way Things Go, represents cause and effect. It represents the ebb and flow of time. The slow build-up of events that suddenly topple things over and start things anew. The repeating themes such as the garbage bags and pouring of water represent the repetitive nature of time. Even the way the piece is shot, with some parts being zoomed into and others being observed with wide shots, seems to represent the how things seem significant in the moment, but are just a small part of the bigger machine.

Perhaps I am looking too deeply into this, but it’s fun to speculate with pieces like this. When it comes to these cause and effect pieces, I understand that they take hundreds of hours to create the perfect execution, which is somewhat ironic considering how short-lived they are and how they represent the passage of time themselves. Had this been titled something else, I would not have given deeper meaning to this piece, but “the way things go” suggests a futility in the passage of time and how things play out. Another irony considering each of these causes and effects were planned out to be executed perfectly.

When it comes to inspiration, I suppose that this piece represents how the effect of one outstanding artist, someone that pushes the limits, can have a ripple effect of people creating and achieving because they were inspired by said person. Ideas come to life and boundaries are pushed. Each little change is a drop in the bucket that will become a new movement or social change. This piece, complex, but simple, represents something broad. Time itself can be interpreted in many ways and fascinates everyone. I believe that the ability to take whatever you want from this piece and how vague the title and video is, make it so effective. Interpretation is up to the viewer. I’m sure this piece has inspired many future artists on its own as well.