Key West The Newspaper

The Key West Art & Historical Society presents “Monster in the Forest: the Story of the Cyclop” at 6:00 pm on Thursday, June 9 in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.

Nearly forgotten until filmmakers Louise Faure and Anne Julien rediscovered it for their sterling documentary, Jean Tinguely’s Cyclop is a shining example of Nouveau Realisme. Tinguely was a Swiss painter and sculptor best known for his sculptural machines or kinetic art in the Dada tradition, known officially as metamechanics. His art satirized the mindless overproduction of material goods in advanced industrial society.

With a running time of just under an hour, the French film with English subtitles documents Tinguely and his wife Niki de Saint Phalle, artists of the Nouveau Réalisme movement, as they build their remarkable creation in a park on the edges of Paris over a twenty-year period beginning in 1969. The Cyclop is an enormous figure made of stairs, bridges, metal, and fountains, with one huge piercing eye staring out from its forehead; Inside, an installation of noisy gears, unique gadgets, and riotous machines delights visitors.

The film exhibits alternate Thursdays at 6:00pm and offer “films that expand our vistas and give us fresh views of our home,” says Society board member and cinéaste Michael Shields. “Monster in the Forest: the Story of the Cyclop” was selected to complement the new permanent exhibit at Fort East Martello, “Stanley Papio: Junkyard Rebel” and last month’s inaugural Papio Kinetic Sculpture Parade.

“Art As History, History As Art” film series is made possible in part by the generosity of the Helmerich Trust. Tickets for the event can be purchased online at KWAHS.ORG/LEARN: $5 for members, $10 for non-members. For more information about this and other programs, please contact Adele Williams, Director of Education, at 305-295-6616, ext. 115. Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.