Homage to New York
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"Homage to New York" was a large, self-destroying kinetic sculpture created by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely in 1960. This ambitious artwork was designed to dismantle itself publicly at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.1
The sculpture was an assemblage of motors, wheels, and other mechanical components intended to perform a "suicide". However, the event was not entirely successful, as the machine malfunctioned and had to be dismantled by firefighters after starting a small fire. Despite the initial failure, "Homage to New York" became Tinguely's first major self-destroying artwork and a significant piece in his career, which often satirized industrial society through his whimsical, machine-like creations.1
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- Jean Tinguely
…the 27-foot-high metamatic entitled “Homage to New York,” whose public suicide he demonstrated at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The event was a fiasco, with the complicated assemblage of motors and wheels failing to operate (i.e., destroy itself) properly; it had to be dispatched by…
Read More…the 27-foot-high metamatic entitled “Homage to New York,” whose public suicide he demonstrated at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The event was a fiasco, with the complicated assemblage of motors and wheels failing to operate (i.e., destroy itself) properly; it had to be dispatched by…
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sculptureModern forms of sculptureHis self-destructing “Homage to New York” perfected the concept of a sculpture being both an object and an event, or “happening.”
Read MoreHis self-destructing “Homage to New York” perfected the concept of a sculpture being both an object and an event, or “happening.”
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