métamatic and métaméchanique

   In the work of Jean Tinguely (Swiss, 1925-), machines programmed electronically to act with antimechanical unpredictability, jerking eratically, sometimes scribbling on rolls of paper. Tinguely was influenced by Klee, Miró and Duchamp. His most famous work was Homage to New York, 1960, an assemblage including an old piano, a pram, a meteorological balloon, and various machine parts; it self-destructed with pyrotechnics before a crowd; its remnants now at the Museum of Modern Art, NY. See automata, Dada and Surrealism.