Michael Landy: H2NY

Drawing upon Jean Tinguely’s Homage to New York (1960) performance, British artist Michael Landy’s re-enactment is explored in this volume. On March 17, 1960, Jean Tinguely staged his infamous sculpture-performance Homage to New York in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The piece destroyed itself in only 27 minutes, a source of lifetime fascination and inspiration for Landy. Best known for his Break Down project (2001) – during which he destroyed the totality of his possessions in an Oxford Street department store in London – Landy has paid homage to Tinguely’s piece. Accompanying reproductions of 40 of Landy’s studies on paper and David Ghar’s photography of Tinguely’s original performance, a text by Barry Schwabsky links both artists and projects.