Who was Jean Tinguely?
Although Swiss-born Tinguely created his fascinating machines in a much later period, his works are rooted in Dadaism. Tinguely was disappointed, not just in the world itself, but in the famed Swiss precision and the pursuit of economic profit. An artist can express his resistance to the civilised world by presenting a pile of rubbish as a work of art, but he can also choose to lend this impulse an extraordinary twist by turning that same rubbish into a cheerful display. This is exactly what Jean Tinguely did with his creations. The works were to make Tinguely world-famous; moving sculptures made from rusty iron and waste materials. He used scrap metal to create engine-driven sculptures, with parts that rotated and moving from side to side while creaking, squeaking and thumping. The creations work as machines, but have no practical use. Tinguely’s large rattling constructions and colourful objects are vital and cheerful as well as poetic and sometimes ironic. Art that will make everyon
