Fall I / Fall II

In Fall II we see a canal in Amsterdam. Bas Jan Ader cycles into the frame, seemingly losing control over his handlebar and driving straight into the water. In Fall I Ader is sitting on a chair on his roof in Claremont, Los Angeles, before falling down the roof in slow motion. In both works, Ader loses control and the power of gravity takes over. The absurdity of the 16mm films questions, like most conceptual art, the connection between art and life. Ader performs pointless tasks, that are set up for failure. Surrendering to the elements is a recurrent theme in Ader’s oeuvre and seems to be completed by his disappearance in 1975, when he tried to sail the Atlantic in the smallest sailboat ever and was never found back.