Since the late Seventies, the work of American artist Morgan Fisher (b. 1942, Washington, D.C.) has investigated the modalities in which narratives are constructed – how are their elements organized, say, to determine an objective perception of their reading? From filmmaking to painting, his practice questions the conventions and the predetermined structures that enact signification. From 4-7 April at Maureen Paley, London, one of Fisher’s latest videos will be screened. ( ), from 2003, is made up entirely of footage of ‘inserts’ from narrative film. These details, which serve to contextualize the plot, are elements that are often revealed as determinant, but not seen or considered by themselves. Hidden within the course of the movie and totally enmeshed in its fiction, here details assume the status of metalinguistic connotations. The fragments are organized in a predetermined order that is nonetheless not made evident, leaving the structure to seem open, like a game of chance. The humor and lack of apparent composition in ( ) reveal a reference to Surrealism and to Duchamp, as the reading of the image sequences is totally left to the subjectivity of the viewer. Combining minimalist rigor with the poetics of the non-sensical, Fisher creates a film that questions the rules of construction and the performance of its signification. (Guido Santandrea)