The Weight of Things

A 19th Century etching of a bedroom in the Palace of Versailles is animated and depicts the room in the midst of an earthquake. Every detail, from the moldings to the small figures in the hung paintings, trembles. Eventually all the elements — objects, furniture, decorative features — fall and pile-up on the floor. The once crowded walls are left empty, with only a few lines signifying the space. As the objects fall and break, their initial significance is questioned. The once strong, solid symbols of power and glorification fall and break to useless shreds on the floor. In the end The Weight of Things becomes still and uncluttered, the bedroom turns into a clear and peaceful landscape. The Palace of Versailles is not only a symbol of France, but a universal symbol of power, control and self aggrandizement through materialism.