Jean Tinguely in the Nevada Desert
posted by EoB on August 23, 2011
In 1962, Jean Tinguely was invited by NBC to visit and make an artwork in Las Vegas. He collected garbage from the city dump, like bicycle wheels and shopping carts, and fused it together to make sculptures in the parking lot of the Flamingo Hotel. On March 21, Tinguely lined up seven sculptures on Jean Dry Lake Bed in the desert southwest of the city, and exploded them with dynamite, firecrackers, and smoke bombs at 4:51pm. An audience of journalists were on hand to record the event, titled "Study for an End of the World, No. 2." The desert area resembled Yucca Flats, a site for atomic testing in the 1950s. More images available here. Photo: Allan Grant.
