"Immobile, certain, and permanent things, ideas, works and beliefs change, transform, and disintegrate...Movement is the only static, final, permanent, and certain thing. Static means transformation...Do not hold on to anything...Do not pinpoint anything!.. .We are fooling ourselves if we close our eyes and refuse to recognize the change.. .Decomposition begins only when we try to prevent it.. .We would so much like to own, think, or be something static, eternal, and permanent. However, our only eternal possession will be change.. .To attempt to hold fast an instant is doubtful.. .How beautiful it is to be transitory. How lovely it is not to have to live forever."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
as quoted in: Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings. ed. Stiles, Kristine and Selz, Peter (LA: University of California Press, 1996), p. 405; Cited in: John D. Powell. Preserving the unpreservable: A study of destruction art in the contemporary museum. University of Leicester, 2007. p. 30
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Tinguely
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss painter and sculptor, married to . He is best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art, in the Dada tradition; known officially as metamechanics. Tinguely's art satirized the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society.
26 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Jean Tinguely →
Related Quotes
"They'll all pee blue for one week to ten days, for about the duration of the show. The first opening I've enjoyed!"
"The relationship of art and play: to play is art - consequently I play. I play enraged."
"Everything moves continuously. Immobility does not exist. Don't be subject to the influence of out-of-date concepts. …"
"Static, static, static! Be static! Be static! Movement is static! Movement is static! Movement is static because it i…"
"Only in movement do we find the true essence of things. Today we can no longer believe in permanent laws, defined rel…"
"We are afraid of movement because it stands for decomposition – because we see our desintegration in movement. Contin…"
"Currently, my machines are black and sometimes gentle, if not sexy or exuding a contained violence; I finally found t…"
"francais: Actuellement mes machines sont noires et parfois même douces, si pas sexy ou alors d'une violence contenue,…"
"So-called immobile objects exist only in movement. Immobile, certain, and permanent things, ideas, works and beliefs …"
"THE ONLY STABLE THING IS MOVEMENT"