Hommage aux déportés, 1976

Located on the west side of Le Cyclop, the 15 figures textiles du groupe de 30, Hommage aux déportés (15 Textile Figures of the Group of 30, Tribute to the Deportees) was created by Eva Aeppli, invited by Jean Tinguely. The work was installed in 1976, at a height of 13 meters, upon railway tracks supported by a rectangular beam filled with reinforced concrete. It cantilevers over the monster’s head. The work comprises a freight car, inside which stand fifteen fabric sculptures, visible through a glass window. These identical, life-sized sculptures of white silk are dressed in brown velvet. Their hands have been bleached by the artist in the heat of an oven. The old SNCF freight car is similar to those used for deportation during the Second World War.