Search results for ""Author Theo Jansen""

Dutch artist Theo Jansen (b. 1948, The Hague) has achieved worldwide recognition for his imposing and ingenious strandbeests, which are much more than art objects. They actually try to create dunes themselves. Taking his inspiration from the theory of evolution, Jansen has taught his strandbeests to float on the sea breeze and to walk independently along the beach. Using PVC tubing, adhesive tape and PET bottles, he has brought a completely new life form into existence. In so doing, he seeks insight into the origins of life itself. His ultimate aim is to have herds of his creations roam the beach all on their own. ‘Give me another couple of million years, and my strandbeests will live completely independently.’ Text in English and Dutch.

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For seven years, photographer and artist Lena Herzog followed the evolution of a new kinetic species. Intricate as insects but with bursts of equine energy, the “Strandbeests,” or “beach creatures,” are the creation of Dutch artist Theo Jansen, who has been working for nearly two decades to generate these new life-forms that move, and even survive, on their own. Set to roam the beaches of Holland, the Strandbeests pick up the wind in their gossamer wings and spring, as if by metamorphosis, into action. As if it were blood, not the breeze, running through their delicate forms, they quiver, cavort, and trot against the sun and sea, pausing to change direction if they sense loose sand or water that might destabilize their movement. Coinciding with a traveling exhibition, Herzog’s photographic tribute captures Jansen’s menagerie in a meditative black and white, showcasing Jansen’s imaginative vision, as well as the compelling intersection of animate and inanimate in his creatures. The result is a work of art in its own right and a mesmerizing encounter not only with a very surrealist brand of marvelous, but also with whole new ideas of existence.

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