“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.” — Jean Tinguely

“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.” — Pirelli HangarBicocca

“‘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.” — Pirelli HangarBicocca

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.