Jean Tinguely – Sketch for Mobile (1990s)

Louisiana poster with the work, Sketch for Mobile, by the Swiss sculptor, Jean Tinguely (1925-1991). Tinguely became known for his mechanical sculptures, the so-called kinetic meta-mechanical works, and in 1960 he co-founded the avant-garde group, Nouveaux Réalistes in Paris. Tinguely is known to many of the guests at Louisiana, which has exhibited works by Tinguely several times, the first time in 1961.

Jean Tinguely has been interested in combining image, sound and movement in his sculptures of scrap metal. His early works were reliefs with simple geometric shapes that moved.

But at the end of the 50s, he started putting different pieces together into free-standing mechanical constructions—or "machines".

In addition to making sound, several of Tinguely's machines are capable of performing an activity, for example drawing or painting. And Tinguely also constructed machines designed to destroy themselves.

Tinguely's machine, Sketch for the End of the World , which he designed for an exhibition in Louisiana in 1961, caused a scandal because a pigeon unfortunately died during the process.