Pirelli HangarBicocca, Jean Tinguely Transforms Movement into Art
He was truly a unique figure, capable of transforming movement into art. Now, Jean Tinguely and his noisy, cacophonous sculptures invade the spaces of Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. The exhibition runs from October 10th to February 2nd, featuring around forty monumental kinetic artworks, created between the 1950s and 1990s, that will occupy the 5,000 square meters of the Navate, transforming them into something never seen before.
The Swiss artist created these works by welding and assembling scrap materials, tools, everyday objects, gears, and even motors. Curated by Camille Morineau, Lucia Pesapane, and Vicente Todolí with Fiammetta Griccioli, and organized in collaboration with the Museum Tinguely in Basel, the exhibition will ideally transport visitors to the artist’s workshop-factory located in La Verrerie, in the Fribourg canton. It’s a visionary, noisy, and above all, dynamic space. Notable works include the experimental “méta-mecanique” sculptures from the mid-1950s, “Gismo,” the mechanical mega-sculpture with wheels and a motor created in 1960, “Ballet des Pauvres” from the following year, made with household objects, and the musical machine “Méta-Maxi.”
This grand Milanese retrospective is part of the series of events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. It recently had a fascinating preview attended by various figures from the worlds of art, culture, and finance. Among them were Roland Wetzel, Bloum Cardenas, Sophie Duplaix, Olga di Grecia, Giancarlo and Danna Olgiati, Carlo Noseda, Giorgio and Anna Fasol, Annie Ratti, Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand, Pedro Cabrita Reis and Chiara Bazoli. A diverse and vibrant crowd, paying tribute to one of the most original and captivating figures of 20th century art, always in constant motion.
Text: Germano D’Acquisto
Photos: Ludovica Arcero
Exhibition views: Jean Tinguely, Installation/Exhibition views at Pirelli HangarBicocca, 2024
Jean Tinguely: © SIAE, 2024 – Photo Agostino Osio
Image credits in order of appearance:
1. Méta-Maxi, 1986 (detail) – On loan from the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection
2. Cercle et carré-éclates, 1981 – MAH, Musée d’art et d’histoire, Ville de Genève
3. Foreground: Jean Tinguely, Café Kyoto, 1987 / Background: Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle, Le Champignon magique, 1988 – © 2024 NIKI CHARITABLE ART FOUNDATION. All rights reserved
4. Foreground: Sculpture méta-mécanique automobile, 1954 – Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne-Centre de création industrielle / Background: Méta-Matic No. 10, 1959. Replica (2024) – Museum Tinguely, Basel. Donation Niki de Saint Phalle. A cultural commitment of Roche.
