22.5 meters tall, 350 tons of steel. This is an immense bodiless head in the heart of the forest of Milly, France. The piece sparkles with mirrors, while water escapes on a slide-like tongue protruding from its mouth. Within its ear, a surprising universe awaits the spectator. A labyrinthine path brings visitors to see a number of varied and complementary works; with sound sculptures and a small automatic theater, this place in the brain reveals the inner cogs of a formidable machine. \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019 by Jean Tinguely is an exception in contemporary art since it brought together Tinguely\u2019s artist friends from four different artistic movements: Dadaism, neo-realism, kinetic art, and outsider art.<\/p>\n
It took more than 20 years for the team to create \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019. In 1969, work began in the forest of Milly. Jean Tinguely knew well, if he wanted to complete this project he would need to finance the construction himself – this was the only condition to work in total liberty. In this same vein, Tinguely also decided that no external architects would participate in the construction. Only his artist friends and himself would progressively build this titanic sculpture with tenacity, strength, and determination. Jean Tinguely and his love Niki de Saint Phalle financed it together. Without prior authorization and with their own funds, they worked with recycled materials. In 1987, to ensure its protection and conservation, they decided to donate \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019 to the French government. When Jean Tinguely passed away in 1991, Niki de Saint Phalle took charge of it and, in respecting her companion\u2019s ideas, finished the sculpture by financing the last remaining work on it.<\/p>\n
May 1994: \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019 was inaugurated by French president Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand. This work incarnated a utopia – a collective adventure, woven through friendship, made by a \u201ccrazy team of sculptors\u201d. \u201cBy working in the forest, we dreamt of a utopia and limitless action (it\u2019s fanciful I know) and our attitude was that of committing a free and useless act. And we were very happy like that, providing no one stopped us from working (like crazy people – that\u2019s self-evident)\u201d explained Jean Tinguely. \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019 is full of tender and scatterbrained nods imagined by Tinguely and his friends. \u201cFriendship,\u201d explains Yann Bouveret, entrusted with taking care of \u2018Le Cyclop\u2019 since Tinguely\u2019s death, \u201cwas really essential. Everyone worked around Jean forgetting rivalries and money matters. He was like a conductor.\u201d The piece\u2019s most poetic part can be found above the brain. A small theatre installed in the eye invites spectators to sit on bizarrely-shaped chairs riveted down with metallic rods that move up and down. The play: a wild love story between a hammer and a demijohn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
22.5 meters tall, 350 tons of steel. This is an immense bodiless head in the heart of the forest of Milly, France. The piece sparkles with mirrors, while water escapes on a slide-like tongue protruding from its mouth. Within its ear, a surprising universe awaits the spectator. A labyrinthine path brings visitors to see a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16668,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1541,14379,19213,19301,19302,6285],"class_list":["post-16671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-art","tag-art-contemporain","tag-artiste","tag-jean-tinguely","tag-le-cyclop","tag-milly","tag-modern-art"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n