Picture: The KunstHaus in Vienna was designed by the Austrian artist Friedrich Hundertwasser and houses changing exhibitions.
My first deep impression of art was when my parents took me to the Zurich museum of art and I first experienced the kinetic art of the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely. There was a massive machine by the name of “Rotozaza” on display that could be fed with footballs, sucking them in and spitting them out. I was mesmerized. Tinguely is famous for his massive moving installations made out of scrap metal. Nearby were I live a massive installation by the name of “Eureka” is still on permanent display. His machines can also be seen in a dedicated museum in Basle but I always have the feeling that his machines do not belong inside a museum. They are supposed to be outside, surrounded by nature. Well, not always. The small but refined art museum KunstHaus in Vienna currently shows a Jean Tinguely retro perspective. And it offers Tinguely a respectable venue as he had his last exhibition while still being alive at the KunstHaus. The museum was built by the famous Austrian architect and utopian Friedrich Hundertwasser. The house has many angles and uneven floors made out of wood. And interestingly Tinguely’s machines feel comfortable in those oddly shaped rooms. While wandering around the exhibition and pressing the red buttons that activated the machines, I felt like I was back in time and a kid again. I was taken in by the energetic movements and deafening noises of those rusty machines, I got engulfed in the elaborate and colourful drawings and I remembered the time when I was a kid and fed a big machine with footballs. Never have I liked footballs better than then.
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