On the Dutch beaches you can see a new kind of life. Strange creatures move on dozens of feet with the help of the wind, which inflates large sails located on their backs.
Engineer Theo Jansen, who created a new life, called them Strandbists, which means “beach animal” in Dutch. These sculptures have no eyes, but they avoid the surf with the help of special antennas. The most amazing thing is that these creatures are made of plastic tubes.
New Life Engineer
The Dutch artist and sculptor Theo Jansen gained his fame thanks to kinetic sculptures, distinguished by special mechanisms that resemble the skeletons of fairy-tale creatures.
The first beach multi-legged monsters Jansen began to create in the early 90s of the last century. A talented sculptor says that since then he has not been able to stop. Initially, his plan was that self-propelled creations were to collect spaced sand in the dunes, thereby acting in favor of the Netherlands. But in the end, the sculptor was delighted with his pets and did not pursue practical goals.
Theo Jansen, whose sculptures fascinate and surprise, traveled with them the whole world. An amazing circus with self-propelled designs is waiting and receiving with enthusiasm everywhere.
Kinetic sculptures from Holland
Constructing moving sculptures for more than seventeen years, Jansen says that he creates his works so that they can more naturally fit into the wild. Wind and sunshine perfectly emphasize the exclusivity of kinetic animals.
Theo Jansen lives and works on the seashore in the heart of The Hague. The creator admits that it is the sea breeze that is his main inspiration, because the main thing in kinetic sculptures is the movement that allows you to see the work in its entirety.
Modern mechanics: how mysterious mechanisms work
Any subsequent generation of beach sculptures differs from the previous one, becoming more modernized. Each time, the structures are better adapted to the conditions of sandy beaches and successfully transfer the influence of water and wind.
Jansen uses cheap PVC tubes to create the framework. The interior of the sculpture consists of plastic bottles filled with air. Entering contact with the wind, the figures begin to move. Many of them can move even when there is no wind, accumulating air pressure.
The talented sculptor Theo Jansen invented such models that are securely mounted in one place during a storm and even know how to recognize their own immersion in water. This extraordinary evolution is a deliberate step that the author took in order to reproduce real life through art.
Theo Jansen Windy Art in Moscow
An exhibition by a Dutch sculptor entitled “Kinetic life of sandy beaches” was also held in Moscow. She worked for several months at VDNH in the pavilion "Cosmos". During the exhibition, the famous platform turned into a beach, along which amazing and mysterious creatures walked.
The organizer of the exhibition was the Polytechnic Museum, which moved to VDNH due to the reconstruction of an obsolete building. And if before that the cult of the machine reigned in the museum, now it has been replaced by new mechanisms with intelligence.
Each time, the exhibitions of a talented engineer arouse interest and adoration among the mass public. A real wizard deserves to be called Theo Jansen. The sculptures, driven by the wind, in an unknown way mesmerizes the audience standing next to them all day