Jean Tinguely

(Switzerland) *1925 in Fribourg; †1991 in Bern

Using junk and trash for his sculpture, Jean Tinguely ironised the claim to perfection of technology like no other artist of the twentieth century, confronting our world with a playful, useless, often absurd counter-world. His works were frequently seen as a provocation, and this was certainly intended by the artist. Tinguley is regarded as one of the most important figures in kinetic art. An interest in sound and motion is already evident in his first constructions. The work shown in Blickachsen 5 comes from the last years of the artist’s life. On the basis of the title Friedrich Engels, Philosph can be read as a late homage to the philosopher and revolutionary. Tingueley was also an anarchic spirit all his life who could not and would not subject himself to any rules. His Engels itself moves in an absurd repetition. Comprised of junk parts and toilet chains, it might point to the fleeting quality of even the most idealistic notions.