Review of 'Fail Better: Moving Images' exhibition in Hamburg examines failure through video works

The exhibition titled 'Fail Better: Moving Images' highlights video artworks centered on the theme of failure, showcasing creations from the 1970s to the present. Among the featured works is Bas Jan Ader's 1970 film 'Fall 2, Amsterdam,' which captures a staged bicycle plunge into a canal. Tacita Dean's 1996 piece 'Disappearance at Sea I' alludes to the real-life failure of Donald Crowhurst. Tracey Emin's 1995 work 'Why I Never Became a Dancer' offers a critique of predatory male behavior. Additionally, Fischli/Weiss's 1986–7 film 'The Way Things Go' explores playful futility, while John Baldessari's 1972 video 'Teaching a Plant the Alphabet' showcases whimsical absurdity. Rineke Dijkstra's 2009 video 'Ruth Drawing Picasso, Tate Liverpool' features a child imitating Picasso. The exhibition debuted in Hamburg and received criticism in ArtReview's Summer 2013 issue for its perceived lack of depth.