This video follows the sculptures of the late Jean Tinguely (1925-1991), one of Europe's most popular artists, as they are transported from his Swiss studio to their new home at the Museum of Basel. Their journey is interspersed with scenes of the museum's construction, and interviews with the architect, Mario Botta, Tinguely's widow, artist Niki de Saint Phalle, and Tinguely's longtime assistant, Seppi Imhof. The video culminates at the gala inauguration of the Jean Tinguely Museum, where the whimsical metal structures are formally bestowed to the public. Interviews with architect Mario Botta about his design for the impressive new museum are interspersed with archival footage from the Seventies of Tinguely, who describes his work. Botta, known for the solidity and permanence of his buildings, contrasts vividly with Tinguely and his fantastic mobile sculptures, which he refers to as his "festival of errors." Niki de Saint Phalle describes her love for Tinguely's work and the importance of preserving it for future generations, while Seppi Imhof's devotion to Tinguely and his work is conveyed in his reminiscences. Meta-Mecano reveals a marvelous world of matter and motion, one where civilization and nature, the spiritual and the mechanical, and motion and inertia, are constantly at odds.

• Trefwoorden
  museum, monografie, beeld- en/of geluidsdrager
• Persoonstrefwoord
  Museum Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle, Mario Botta, Pontus Hultén, Paul Sacher, Jean Tinguely, Seppi Imhof