International conference: Jean Tinguely Revisited

With his kinetic sculptures, performative actions and innovative approaches, Jean Tinguely was among the most important Swiss artists of the second half of the twentieth century. In 2025, Museum Tinguely will mark his 100th birthday with a three-day international conference with in-depth discussions of his work in the light of recent research. Under the title Jean Tinguely Revisited, the event will take an interdisciplinary look at aspects of the artist’s oeuvre and artistic milieu, critically reappraising them in the light of today’s theories and discourses.

The first day’s papers will situate Tinguely’s oeuvre within an art-historical context, discussing kineticism and motorization with reference to futurism and reevaluating readings of his works as machines—and especially as Bachelor Machines—with regard to today’s digital machines and gender discourse. While Tinguely is known primarily for his kinetic sculptures, one panel discussion will explore painting as an aspect of his practice that has received less attention: with contributions on the painting of his sculptures, analyses of his Spectacle empirique (1956) and a Kinetic Painting performance, the focus here is on painting in motion as spectacle.

Under the motto “Digging Deep” several panel discussions on the second day of the conference will take a fresh, critical look at Tinguely’s oeuvre. The use of stuffed animals and animal bones in the artist’s late work will be examined in both artistic and ethical terms. The decorative qualities of his letter drawings and his collaborations with Eva Aeppli will be discussed with a view to gender stereotypes and art-historical narratives. We will be asking and discussing how the works in the Balubas series can be assessed in postcolonial terms and how these works can be situated within the discursive context of postwar Europe. We will also be analysing Tinguely’s artistic strategies for achieving broad-based accessibility. Finally, a panel discussion with talks and a performance lecture will explore the artist’s performative works between social analysis, pathos, and parody.

On the third and final day of the conference, we will be focusing in mainly historical terms on Tinguely’s exhibitions and works for the theatre, on his friendships and networks, and on his thinking and political positions.

With performances by Samia Halaby and Sam Belinfante the conference offers outstanding artistic contributions that invite those present to reflect on aspects of the kinetic, the mechanical and the performative.

Participants:
Sam Belinfante, Giorgio Bloch, Christine Burger, Leena Crasemann, Nicola Foster, Samia Halaby, Toni Hildebrandt, Anna Kipke, Jenny Körber, Georg Kreis, Barbara Lange, Petra Lange-Berndt, Till Langschied, Ara H. Merjian, Federica Milano, Annja Müller-Alsbach, Tabea Panizzi, Andres Pardey, AnnMarie Perl, Sandra Beate Reimann, Anne Röhl, Pierre Ruault, Fabiana Senkpiel, Roland Wetzel, Sarah Wilson 

Kinetic Painting Group, Samia Halaby (Artist), Kevin Nathaniel (Music Director), Thursday, March 20, 2025, 7pm
Samia Halaby presents a performance with multi-percussionist Kevin Nathaniel Hylton who performs using acoustic instruments many of which have an African origin. Her interactive programme is written in C language, for an IBM compatible Personal Computer as an instrument of artistic form. It allows the artist to use a variety of sets of shapes, lines, colours and incorporate in real time the idea of movement and rhythm in her digital paintings. The live interaction with sound enriches the artistic inquiry as new paintings are cognizant of the unique relationship of sound and vision. The performance will be followed by a Q&A with Samia Halaby and the curator, Sandra Beate Reimann.

On Falling Short, Sam Belinfante, Friday, March 21, 2025, 6pm
Taking the broken beats of the ellipsis as starting points, On Falling Short is a musical exploration of falling, failing and flailing—embracing processes of collapse and letting things go. Prepared and articulated by chance operations, these movements will draw on the work of Tinguely and his contemporaries while creatively embracing Belinfante’s own productive shortcomings. Featuring unprepared contributions by local musicians. The performance will be followed by a Q&A with Sam Belinfante and the curator, Tabea Panizzi.

The conference has been organized by Sandra Beate Reimann with Roland Wetzel, Dr. Andres Pardey, Annja Müller-Alsbach, Tabea Panizzi, and Andrea Absenger.

The conference will take place in German and English. Simultaneous interpretation will be available.

For full details of the programme, please see our website.

Attending the conference:
Attendance is free of charge.
Please register by March 2, 2025 by email: tinguelybasel.conference [​at​] roche.com
Registration is not required for the performances.