Jean Tinguely control BOX

In 2014, when the Menil Collection was presenting work by the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, I was brought on to build a simple control system for one of his kinetic sculptures. Because the sculpture was extremely fragile, the curators needed a way to activate it only briefly, with long pauses between runs and a strict limit on the number of times it could operate each day. I designed a small push-button controller that turned the sculpture on for a set number of seconds, then kept it off for a programmed number of minutes before allowing it to run again. The system also capped the total number of activations per day to help protect the work from unnecessary wear. The box itself was straightforward—just an Arduino, a relay, and a few basic components—but it did exactly what it needed to do: safely manage the sculpture’s operation while respecting the needs of the exhibition.

LINK TO WORK