LIVERPOOL, England—For artist Michael Landy, destroying all of his property was a positive artistic experience. In an interview with the Liverpool Daily Post to promote today's opening of his show at the Tate Liverpool, he explains the tremendous influence Swiss artist Jean Tinguely, who was infamous for his self-destructing machine sculptures, has had on his development as an artist.

Landy’s Break Down (2001) performance involved the artist taking apart, dismantling, and shredding more than 7,000 belongings — including his Saab car, clothing, and his art collection, which included two pieces by Gary Hume — in front of an audience with a team of 10 assistants helping to disassemble and discard the items. At the end of the piece, he was left with the clothes on his back and his cat Rats.

The experience was a cleansing process for him. “I couldn’t make art for about a year afterwards because it was such a finale,” he says. Since then, his fascination with Tinguely has continued — a number of works in Landy’s new show reference the artist — although he says he is not likely to engage in such destructive behavior in the future.

After recovering from the event, he says, “I was quite happy with my life. I wanted to carry on living in a Western society.” While he lives a simpler existence now, he admits, “I do own a toothbrush.”

Read more at the Liverpool Daily Post.