Michael Landy’s new work references Homage to New York, Jean Tinguely’s 1960, self-destructing machine constructed in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art over a period of three weeks in March 1960. Set into motion for 27 minutes on March 17, 1960, the machine spasmed, shook, and burst into flame but failed to fully self-destruct, forcing firemen and museum guards to take action. Michael Landy’s fascination with Tinguely’s work dates back to the Tinguely retrospective at the Tate, London which he saw as an art student in 1982.

For almost two years, Landy has been working on drawings in charcoal, oilstick, glue and ink based on research he conducted at the Museum Tinguely in Basel and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. All of the drawings in this exhibition display Landy’s meticulous draftsmanship but vary in their depiction of the 1960 event. In some, such as H.2.N.Y. Self-Constructing, Self-Destroying Machine, Landy renders minute details of Tinguely’s machine with linear clarity. Others, including Machine Comedy and Kinetic Apparition, are less precise and serve to capture the explosive chaos of the machine’s break down. Landy’s black and white palette ties his drawings to the original black and white photographs and lends drama to the scenes portrayed.

Several ‘fragments’ from the 1960 Tinguely installation will be included in the exhibition, including ‘the suicide carriage’ from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art and the ‘klaxon’ from Museum Tinguely.