Jean Tinguely, Requiem pour une feuille morte, 1967 (particolare). Veduta dell’installazione, Palazzo Grassi, Venezia, 1987. Courtesy Magnum Photos. Jean Tinguely © SIAE, 2024. Foto René Burri.

From October 10, 2024, to February 2, 2025, Pirelli HangarBicocca presents "Jean Tinguely", the most comprehensive retrospective held in Italy since the artist's death.

The aim of the exhibition is to highlight the radical and experimental nature of Jean Tinguely, one of the artists who shaped the history of 20th century art, and to underline his contemporary relevance and status even today.

The show includes a nucleus of 40 works made from the 1950s to the 1990s, which will fill the 5,000 square meters of the vast Navate space at Pirelli HangarBicocca. Comprising many of his most important pieces, from his pioneering experimental kinetic sculptures to his monumental machines, the exhibition invites visitors into a unique and enthralling audio and visual environment.

The "Jean Tinguely" exhibition is organized by Pirelli HangarBicocca in collaboration with Museum Tinguely, Basel. The exhibition project is curated by Camille Morineau, Lucia Pesapane and Vicente Todolí with Fiammetta Griccioli.

The exhibition is part of the program of cultural events celebrating the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth (1925-2025).... read the rest of the article»

"I am a movement artist. I started with painting, but I got stuck, I was at a dead end" (from "Tinguely talks about Tinguely", interview broadcasted by Belgian Radio Television on December 13, 1982). This is how the artist, one of the most subversive figures of the last century, described himself. Tinguely focused all his experiments on overcoming two- dimensionality, tirelessly researching the movement of matter and objects, and constant change, with the aim of overturning the notion of a permanent, definitive composition. This artistic attitude speaks to broader existential issues, such as the uncertainty and transience of the human condition and the evolution of social and political contexts.

Jean Tinguely (Fribourg, 1925 - Bern, 1991) is considered one of the great pioneering artists of the 20th century. As one of the most important exponents of kinetic art, he revolutionized the concept of the artwork itself. At the heart of his work is the exploration of the machine, its function and movement, its noises and sounds, and its inherent poetry. Tinguely was one of the first artists to use found objects, gears, and other materials, which he then welded together to create noisy, cacophonous working machines equipped with real motors. His sculptures also have a performative quality because of their constant movement and the peculiar way in which they engage the audience. Gears, especially the wheel, are often the basic element in the works of Tinguely, who deliberately disrupts their conventional function, liberating the machine from the "tyranny of utility" and encouraging the unexpected and ephemeral in his absurd, surprising contraptions.

The exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca is the most comprehensive retrospective held in Italy since the artist's death and features more than forty works from the 1950s to the 1990s, which fill almost the entire 5,000 square meters of the Navate. The exhibition moves through a single sonic and visual choreography consisting of works in various formats, some even monumental, through which sound as well as dynamic and color components emerge, together with Tinguely's forerunning expressivity.

The mechanical works establish a spontaneous connection with the vastness of the former industrial space of Pirelli HangarBicocca, offering the public the possibility to engage with and deeply explore the Swiss artist's practice. His approach to art was intentionally detached from authorship, and therefore never unambiguous and definitive. Often realized as performance and sometimes set in public spaces, his art was transitory yet engaging and fascinating, thanks to its interactive elements.