THEMATIC ACTIVITIES | Meta-Tinguely: The Artist Who Went a Step Further

Focus areas

These interdisciplinary activities can cut across a range of different subjects, such as history, philosophy and art history.

Activities

Jean Tinguely (Fribourg 1925-1991 Bern) was one of the most pioneering artists of the twentieth century, and he transformed the very notion of what constitutes a work of art. He was a leading figure of kinetic art, a movement that explored visual perception and movement in the 1960s and 1970s. At the centre of Tinguely’s work is the machine, in the form of a sculpture endowed with movement, sound and its own uniqueness. He transformed discarded objects and found materials, like gears and scrap metal, into sculptures that were often witty, noisy, and cacophonic, bringing them to life through intricate mechanisms and motors. Tinguely’s work questioned the very concept of authorship, and in the 1980s he transformed a disused glass factory, La Verrerie, into an “anti-museum.” As his works evolved, this space blurred the boundaries between art and everyday life.

To begin with, the students will be divided into groups and will visit the exhibition space on their own. They will be guided by key words that will help them work as a group to reconstruct the historical scenario, for example, from the post-war period to the economic boom, which influenced Tinguely’s artistic creations. This will help them understand the importance of the industrial era in his creative process and find out how the artist anticipated the controversial link between machine and “life” that is more relevant than ever today. These and other themes will be at the centre of the thematic activities that will allow the students to share their reflections and start up peer-to-peer exchanges of ideas and thoughts.