Rattle and squeak

One of the fountains in Basel features the work of an artist who was born there, Jean Tinguely. It a very quirky piece of satirical nonsense with shovels scooping up water, a big sieve uselessly sieving and other pieces spraying water in all directions. It's a type of sculpture called metamechanics.

We also went to Museum Tinguely in Basel. There are dozens of mechanical sculptures by Tinguely that operate at the push of a button, with pieces of metal squeaking, rattling, groaning, crashing, thumping, rotating, flopping and whirring. It's a noisy and lively museum and a great delight for visitors of all ages. There were lots of families there the day we went. It's a cryptic, tragic, scary, funny, entertaining and thought-provoking exhibition in an interesting building by the architect Mario Botta.