META-MECANO: THE CREATION OF THE JEAN TINGUELY MUSEUM
Price: $310.00 Code: 2080 |
Directed by Rudolf Gerber
1997, 64 mins.
Purchase: $310 Classroom Rental: $125
This video follows the sculptures of the late Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), one of Europe's most popular artists, as they are transported from his Swiss studio to their new home at the Museum of Basel. Their journey is interspersed with scenes of the museum's construction, and interviews with the architect, Mario Botta, Tinguely's widow, artist Niki de Saint Phalle, and Tinguely's longtime assistant, Seppi Imhof. The video culminates at the gala inauguration of the Jean Tinguely Museum, where the whimsical metal structures are formally bestowed to the public.
Interviews with architect Mario Botta about his design for the impressive new museum are interspersed with archival footage from the Seventies of Tinguely, who describes his work. Botta, known for the solidity and permanence of his buildings, contrasts vividly with Tinguely and his fantastic mobile sculptures, which he refers to as his "festival of errors." Niki de Saint Phalle describes her love for Tinguely's work and the importance of preserving it for future generations, while Seppi Imhof's devotion to Tinguely and his work is conveyed in his reminiscences. Meta-Mecano reveals a marvelous world of matter and motion, one where civilization and nature, the spiritual and the mechanical, and motion and inertia, are constantly at odds.
"The system took a long time to absorb and museumify him...and this is what the film is really about: the museumification of the artist and the rebel Tinguely." - Neue Zuricher Zeitung
1997, 64 mins.
Purchase: $310 Classroom Rental: $125
This video follows the sculptures of the late Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), one of Europe's most popular artists, as they are transported from his Swiss studio to their new home at the Museum of Basel. Their journey is interspersed with scenes of the museum's construction, and interviews with the architect, Mario Botta, Tinguely's widow, artist Niki de Saint Phalle, and Tinguely's longtime assistant, Seppi Imhof. The video culminates at the gala inauguration of the Jean Tinguely Museum, where the whimsical metal structures are formally bestowed to the public.
Interviews with architect Mario Botta about his design for the impressive new museum are interspersed with archival footage from the Seventies of Tinguely, who describes his work. Botta, known for the solidity and permanence of his buildings, contrasts vividly with Tinguely and his fantastic mobile sculptures, which he refers to as his "festival of errors." Niki de Saint Phalle describes her love for Tinguely's work and the importance of preserving it for future generations, while Seppi Imhof's devotion to Tinguely and his work is conveyed in his reminiscences. Meta-Mecano reveals a marvelous world of matter and motion, one where civilization and nature, the spiritual and the mechanical, and motion and inertia, are constantly at odds.
Subjects & Collections
Festivals & Awards
* Grand Prix, Paris International Film FestivalReviews
"Gerber demonstrates exceptional craft, incorporating commentary from architect Mario Botta (who designed the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) and welder and longtime Tinquely associate Seppi Imhof, among others. The process of watching the building being designed, constructed and opened to the public is as engrossing as Tinguely's sculptures. Including a wide array of music from Vinz Vonlathen and a stunning moving shot of the completed, empty museum, Gerber has boldly redefined art documentaries just as Tinguely exploded ideas on sculpture." - Entertainment Today"The system took a long time to absorb and museumify him...and this is what the film is really about: the museumification of the artist and the rebel Tinguely." - Neue Zuricher Zeitung