Dream Beasts: Theo Jansen’s spectacular creatures
On display in 2019, for the first time in Italy, the works of the Dutch artist Theo Jansen, known for his kinetic sculptures called Strandbeests.
One of Theo Jansen's creatures moving on the beachNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
These huge beach animals move with the force of the wind and are able to evolve and survive thanks to their primitive sensors. The international critic defines him as "a modern Leonardo da Vinci".
One of Theo Jansen's creaturesNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
Theo Jansen shares with Leonardo da Vinci and many Renaissance humanists the dimension of dream and vision, where the machine, a creation of art and technique, arouses wonder in its iteration with nature.
DREAM BEASTS: Theo Jansen’s spectacular creaturesNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
Dream Beasts
Theo Jansen’s spectacular creatures
20th February - 19th May 2019
The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds
These are the roots from which the poetics of the Dutch artist develop, which ideally bring him closer to the spirit of Leonardo da Vinci, symbol of the unity of knowledge and of the dialogue between humanistic culture and technical-scientific culture. This perspective – which combines art, science and technology – has inspired the National Museum of Science and Technology to present for the first time in Italy Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest, in the year of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Da Vinci’s death.
Beach creatures
Since 1990, Jansen has worked on the creation of a new form of life called Strandbeest (beach creature), kinetic sculptures similar in form to large insects or prehistoric skeletons made of PVC pipes, bands and plastic. Each Strandbeest bears a Latin name that indicates its main characteristic and the period it belongs to. Theo’s creatures are designed to live on beaches. They feed on the power of the wind and do not rely on engines or advanced technology to move.
Evolution of the species
A Strandbeest can modify its behaviour on a perceptive basis, responding autonomously to its environment through simple sensors. Some can detect the movement of the tide and change the direction of their stroll. Others can channel air into bottles as if they were internal organs that can power their movement even when the wind drops. As in true Darwinian evolution, Theo’s creatures have become more complex over time, maintaining the successful anatomical characteristics of their predecessors and mutating them to accomplish the fundamental objective of every living species: survival.
Theo Jansen's Dream Beasts, sounds from the exhibitionNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
Theo Jansen's Dream Beasts, sounds from the exhibition
A video by Francesco Clerici and Emanuele Pullini documenting the amazing sound of Strandbeests.
Exhibition of parts of Theo Jansen's creaturesNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
I try to make new forms of life that live on beaches. And they don’t have to eat, because they get their energy form the wind. And during the twenty-five years that I’ve been working on these beasts, there has been a sort of evolution. They have become better and better at surviving storms on the beach.
I don’t dictate to the materials; the materials dictate to me. The process is not a straight line from A to B. It’s a capricious road on which every turn is unpredictable. But it takes me where nobody has ever been before.
I am aiming for a system that is simple enough to survive and complex enough to survive all circumstances – storms, water, and sand. I want to make everything out of plastic tubing. Just as nature as we know it consists largely of protein, I want to make my own life-forms from a single material.
We think we have exceptional brains (and of course we do) but they are embarrassingly alike in many ways. Everything we think up can in principle be thought up by someone else. Now real ideas, as evolution shows us, occur by sheer chance. The idea for the beach animals was one such accident.
DREAM BEASTS: Theo Jansen’s spectacular creaturesNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
Dream Beasts at the Science Museum
Theo Jansen
Theo Jansen was born in 1948 in Scheveningen, Netherlands. In 1968 he begun studying Applied Physics at Delft University of Technology, but in 1975 he abandoned his studies to begin his artistic career and explore the fields of aeronautics and robotics. His UFO, a flying saucer shaped airship, used to frighten the people of Delft, and his Painting Machine - a robot that draws graffiti on a wall – testified his ability to apply his engineering knowledge to different artistic projects.
At the eve of the 1980s Jansen began to create algorithm programs of artificial life simulation. His interest in designing living and autonomous organisms via software was at the root of his series of kinetic sculptures Strandbeest. Since 1990, Theo Jensen has worked on the creation this new form of life. From a distance his creatures can be mistaken for huge insects or giant prehistoric skeletons. Instead, they are large objects made of materials from our own industrial era: flexible plastic pipes, nylon thread and adhesive tape.
Interview with Theo JansenNational Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci
Interview with Theo Jansen
The artist tells his relationship with science, nature and art.
The exhibition was made possible thanks to:
Audemars Piguet (main sponsor)
IBSA Foundation
KLM
Embassy and Consulate General of the Netherlands
Mondriaan Fund
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