Between 1978 and 1985, Jean Tinguely created a series of four musical machines known as the MétaHarmonie series. Following MétaHarmonie I (1978) and MétaHarmonie II (1979), the present work, Pandämonium (Capital of Hell) No. 1 – MétaHarmonie III, was commissioned by Seibu Department Stores and completed in 1984. The series culminated with Fatamorgana (Mirage) – MétaHarmonie IV in 1985.
The title Pandämonium derives from the capital city of Hell described in Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton. True to its name, the work is a vast accumulation of disparate materials, including wheels of various sizes and colors, cymbals, drums, and plastic owls and hawks. Resembling a hellish amusement park, the monumental machine moves slowly while producing a cacophony of sounds, as if playfully engaging with themes of death and chaos.
From the 1980s onward, Tinguely frequently incorporated animal skulls into his works as symbols of death. Yet these darker motifs coexist with elements of humor and homage: cowbells referencing Switzerland and the Great St. Bernard Pass, bottle racks recalling the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, and even heart-shaped cake molds that introduce a playful, almost whimsical quality.
Although the machine appears chaotic, its mechanism is relatively simple. It is powered by fifty-two independent motors and contains no central control system. As a result, unpredictable movements constantly emerge, while the dry, hollow sounds produced by the assembled scrap materials intensify the atmosphere of disorder and spontaneity.
Despite its themes of death and hell, the work possesses a distinctly humorous and even charming character. Tinguely’s monumental musical machine simultaneously embraces fear and laughter, destruction and celebration. In doing so, it embodies a paradoxical vision in which hell itself becomes a place filled with amusement and delight.