Tinguely Museum

Jean Tinguely made kinetic sculpture out of scrap - wheels, belts, motors, salvaged metal - assembled into machines that move, bang, scrape and in some cases were designed to destroy themselves. The museum, built by Mario Botta on the Rhine and opened in 1996, holds the largest collection of his work, and the essential thing about it is that the machines are run: visitors press floor buttons and pieces start up, so the galleries are loud and intermittently chaotic rather than hushed. His Meta-Harmonie machines fill whole rooms. Work by Niki de Saint Phalle, his wife, is shown alongside; soon after the museum opened she gave it more than fifty works from his estate. Tinguely was Basel-born, and his Fasnacht fountain of moving machines stands in the city centre.

What to look for

• Machines you switch on - floor buttons starting the sculptures.
• A loud gallery - banging and scraping rather than museum quiet.
• Botta's 1996 building - the museum on the Rhine bank.
• Niki de Saint Phalle alongside - his wife's work in the collection.

When to go

All year, closed Mondays. Half a day.

Things to know

It is genuinely noisy, which some visitors find tiring and which matters for anyone sound-sensitive. Machines are run in rotation and some are stopped for maintenance. It is a walk or tram ride from the centre.

Nearby

The Kunstmuseum is in the centre; the Fondation Beyeler is at Riehen.

Key facts