29th June to 17th November 2014.
Curator: Cindy Daguenet.
Artists: Bernd et Hilla Becher, Pol Bury, César, David Michael Clarke, Marcel Duchamp, Jean Dupuy, Fischli & Weiss, Nils Guadagnin, Jacques Halbert, Diango Hernandez, Paul Kos, Fernand Léger et Dudley Murphy, Capitaine Lonchamps, Antti Lovag, Gabriel Orozco, Minimaforms, Mimmo Rotella, Nam June Paik, Jean Tinguely.
In a very visual and imaginary manner, the exhibition «Roulez les mécaniques», occupying four sites in the town of Chinon, sheds a light on the power of the machine and the measure of time. The exhibition includes works of art that were made over the best part of a century. The theme of art and the machine threads its way through these works that were born out of this fascination with technological progress and the mechanization of society.
The industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries favoured scientific and technological progress and led to many discoveries and innovations. However one had to wait until 1911 for the principal of organization and the technical evolution as defined by Taylor in his work «The Principles of Scientific Management» to really kick in and drag our society into modernity. The industrial revolution rocked the western world in every domain: social, political, demographic, military, as well as our society of consommation. Art didn’t escape un touched.
The industrial revolution and the sophistication of the machines inspired numerous writers (Jules Verne, Emile Zola, Raymond Roussel, Franz Kafka, H.G Wells,…), architects, musicians throughout the 20th century… In 1902, Georges Méliès made «Le voyage dans la lune» adapted from «De la terre à la Lune» by Jules Verne. Some years later in 1925, Charley Bowers shot the film «Pour épater les poules», then there was «Metropolis» by Fritz Lang, and, in 1936, Charlie Chaplin makes his mark with «Modern Times».
Chinon Vienne et Loire.