Jean Tinguely

Exhibition at the Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 10 October 2024 - 10 February 2025

Jean Tinguely (1925-1991) is considered one of the great pioneering artists of the twentieth century. One of the most important exponents of kinetic art, he revolutionised the concept of the work of art itself. At the heart of his work is an exploration of the machine, its function and movement, its noises and sounds, and its inherent poetry. Often the basic element of Tinguely's works, gears, particularly the wheel, deliberately disrupt their conventional function, freeing the machine from the ‘tyranny of utility’ and encouraging the unexpected and the ephemeral.

This exhibition catalogue analyses Tinguely's approach and provides detailed descriptions of the works, accompanied by a wide selection of contemporary and archive images. The volume also includes an essay that places Tinguely's work in the context of the contemporary avant-garde, another on the role of sound and performance in his work in the context of the 1960s, an illustrated chronology of the artist's career and two reprinted texts written by Tinguely himself.