kinetic sculptures of the artist theo jansen

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Jedi
Recently I have found this video regarding to the kinetic sculptures of the artist theo jansen and I had like to share this video here :
_http://www.strandbeest.com/index.php

from wikipedia:
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Theo Jansen (born 1948) is a Dutch artist. In 1990, he began what he is known for today: building large mechanisms out of PVC that are able to move on their own, known only as Strandbeest. His animated works are a fusion of art and engineering; in a car company (BMW) television commercial Jansen says: "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds." He strives to equip his creations with their own artificial intelligence so they can avoid obstacles by changing course when one is detected, such as the sea itself.
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The Strandbeest

A Jansen "beach beast", exhibited on the Linz city square during Ars Electronica, 2005
Jansen has been creating Strandbeest (Dutch: strand=beach; beest=beast), wind-walking examples of artificial life, since 1990. What was at first a rudimentary breed has slowly evolved into a generation of machines that are able to react to their environment: "over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water, and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives."

Constructed as intricate assemblages of piping, wood, and wing-like sails, Jansen's creations are constantly being improved and have become excellently adapted to their sandy beach environment. The creations sport legs, which "prove to be more efficient on sand than wheels...they don’t need to touch every inch of the ground along the way, as a wheel has to".

The creations are also able to store air pressure and use it to drive them in the absence of wind: "Self-propelling beach animals like Animaris Percipiere have a stomach. This consists of recycled plastic bottles containing air, that can be pumped up to a high pressure by the wind." Theo's more sophisticated creations are able to detect once they have entered water and walk away from it, and one model will even anchor itself to the earth if it senses a storm approaching.

According to his website:

Since 1990 Theo Jansen has been occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.

Theo Jansen's CV:
_http://www.strandbeest.com/theo_cv.php
 
Thank you for finding and sharing this video, Leo the Thracian. I found it a joy to watch while deploying an ever broadening smile.

These self propelled 'creatures' seem so vulnerable and yet they are so agile. Wondrous to follow their movements even when something goes amiss. Cannot imagine how this artist ever thought of them doing these things and then follow up with actually building them. I mean, it must have been an awful lot of construction work to get these things moving along so elegantly. I'm very much impressed.

Somehow, these things bring back memories about the first ever built flying machines -- for instance those of the Wright brothers like these.

Great fun! Thanks again. :)
 
These are Fabulous! Thanks so much for posting, I 've never seen anything like this. His creations certainly have a life of their own. Requires a tremendous amount of work, I agree.

Kinetic sculpture is something I have rarely seen and certainly nothing at this level. So a new art form has been discovered for me! At the end of this video I found another truly amazing kinetic artist named Anthony Howe.

-http://youtu.be/1CNU3DQclGs
 
Sorry I made a mistake. I saw this clip at the end of a youtube video on Theo Jansen, not the link posted by Leo. I cant edit my posts and wanted to correct this.

:)
 
Thank you very much for sharing Anthony Howe's work SummerLite.

SummerLite said:
These are Fabulous! Thanks so much for posting, I 've never seen anything like this. His creations certainly have a life of their own. Requires a tremendous amount of work, I agree.

Kinetic sculpture is something I have rarely seen and certainly nothing at this level. So a new art form has been discovered for me! At the end of this video I found another truly amazing kinetic artist named Anthony Howe.

-http://youtu.be/1CNU3DQclGs
 
tohuwabohu said:
These things evoke strange feelings in me but can't put a finger on it.
I 'like' the big 'crab' the most.

I think the soundtrack music might add to that 'strange' feeling. If you watch it on mute and add any other music - perhaps your feeling changes?
 
mouse said:
Recently I have found this video regarding to the kinetic sculptures of the artist theo jansen and I had like to share this video here...

Amazing! I just noticed this thread. Thanks for the bump!

I'd never seen anything like this before! To me, the appearance of these structures apparantly 'walking' on the beach created a sensation of looking at mechanical life. I knew there must have been some work done by the artists' inductive cognitive faculty though, but couldn't find it! So I dug through the explanations of the engineering work. Bingo! The inductive work was in the "evolutionary" method (trial and error) used to eventually find the "holy numbers" to start work on the ideal walking curve which would determine the ratio for the work that 11 small rods have to do to get locomotion.

Nice example of the metaphorical marriage of the King and Queen aspects of the brain!
Unfortunately, we're looking at the prototypes of the Star Wars Walkers. :lol: *coughcough*

Or, maybe not. :)
 
Thank you for sharing this! Jansen's works remind me of Howl's Moving Castle, in the Studio Ghibli film. His creations move so seemingly effortlessly with the breeze, until I noticed the complexity and smooth cooperation between all the moving parts. Kinda makes the hairs on my arm stand up, in a good way.
 
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