Jean Tinguely ///// [31] Jewish Museum impulsive freedom, expressive anarchy [31, p9] "Tinguely's machines are really "anti-machine," as has so often stated in print, aligned on the side of animal energy and vitalism. The hectic and uncertain life of his mechanical equipment, always on the verge of breakdown or disintegration, releases finally pure like an arabesque of movement, or gesture, and each of his machines carries its own distinctive face and personality." machine as an "agent of disorder" ///// [13] Hulten, The Machine . . . tinguely practices meta-mechanics -> like the analogy of physics and meta-physics - they are feverish, mechanical disorder - ignore the conventions of previous machines, the opposite of order, precision, reliability, regularity - improvisation, inefficiency, shabbiness = freedom Meta-matic series - auto-creative are a comment about art making as a statement of individuality, together man and machine project an irrational product. - auto-destructive machines are strong comment on society [13, p167] quote from Tinguely "For me, the machine is above all an instrument that permits me to be poetic. If you respect the machine, if you enter into a game with the machine, then perhaps you can make a truly joyous machine -- by joyous, I mean free. That's a marvelous thing, don't you think?" Homage to New York most important of self-destroying machine article Garden Party written after by Billy Kulver - was built at the Museum in a period of three weeks - "When on March 17, 1960, his machine was put into action, the spectacle was one of beautiful humor, poetry, and confusion. Jean's machine performed for half an hour and exists no more." - bought old motors on canal street, dumps in new jersey, second-hand stores in new york - made from bicycle and baby carriage wheels, pulleys, a piano, fire extinguishers, two meta-matics, a bassinet, pipes, flags, rusty-oil cans, stinking liquids - no regard for engineering principles, total anarchy and freedom - partially worked as conceived - performance began late, artist still working on it - p170 "The piano was to begin playing slowly as the flame on the keyboard was lighted. But the step-up transformer had broken in transport, sothemotor had to be started directly at full speed. The result was that the driving sling jumped the wheel on the piano as the motor started ... A fuse had blown ... The piano began working again, but only three notes were playing -- three sad notes. Some slings had been lost." - p171 "Just as in every moment we see and experience a new and changing world, Jean's machine created and destroyed itself as a representation of a moment in our lives" ///// [07] Jack Burnam, Beyond Modern Sculpture "Tinguely has succeeded psychologically because he has exploited the underlying human hostility to mechanization"