Jean Tinguely, Ballet des pauvres (1961), all photos via Besiana Vathi for Art Observed

One of the pioneering artists in the concept of kinetics and movement in their works, Jean Tinguely is the subject of an expansive retrospective, Machine Spectacle, currently on view at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, charting the artist’s creative trajectory and body of work, and highlighting his fascination with movement and formal progression as the focus, rather than the means of his practice.  Using movement and change as modes of critical inquiry, the works on view underscore Tinguely’s understanding of the modern condition, examining capitalist spectacle and modern culture in conjunction with his work’s internal series of aesthetic decisions.

Jean Tinguely, Le Cyclop РLa T̻te, collaboration with Niki de Saint Phalle (1986)

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Amsterdam art museums the Rijksmuseum and the Stedelijk are expected to reopen to the public in the coming months, after several years of renovations. The Rijksmuseum, which houses a large collection of “Golden Age” pieces by Dutch masters such as Rembrandt, has announced that it will be accessible again on April 13, 2013 following a closure of ten years. The Stedelijk, whose focus veers towards more modern and contemporary art, has been shut for eight years, and has set a re-opening date of September 23, 2012.

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