ART MACHINES. MACHINE ART
18. October - 27. January 2008

In general we presume that artists make art, but what happens when machines produce art? Do artists then become engineers? What does the apparent withdrawal of the artist from the creative act mean, and what consequences for the originality and the uniqueness of the work of art result from it? What is a work of art in the first place in such cases: the machine, the product, or the act of production? What role is granted the viewer in the course of production: interaction or exclusion? Beginning with Jean Tinguely’s drawing machines of the 1950s, an exhibition conceived jointly by the Schirn and the Museum Tinguely in Basel will present art machines from various contexts right up to the present – such as works by Michael Beutler and Roxy Paine. The exhibition space becomes a production space.

Curators: Katharina Dohm (Schirn) and Dr. des. Heinz Stahlhut (Museum Tinguely, Basel)