I know a lot of you will be aware of the work of Theo Jansen, you may have seen him featured in this BMW ad a few years back
http://youtu.be/WcR7U2tuNoY. For those of you who don't know about him he is a Dutch engineer and kinetic sculptor who creates wind powered 'animals' which he sets free on a beach near The Hague.
The animals are made entirely out of PVC tubing, plastic bottles and cloth. With these limited materials he manages to construct mind bogglingly complex machines which can store the power of the wind as compressed air in the bottles. Using this compressed air, the machines or strandbeests as he calls them, can sense when they are about to walk into the sea or sand dunes and automatically change direction. Using this technology he has also developed a brain for the animal so that they can always know where they are on the beach.
What I love about his designs is this seamless connection between art and engineering, as he states at the end of the BMW ad, "the walls between art and engineering exist only in our mind." A statement which I think resonates completely with the ideology behind industrial design. I find the unique movement of the legs of the strandbeests both mesmerising and graceful, two adjectives I don't think are commonly associated with PVC tubing. The fact that he limits himself to basically this one medium of PVC is a great example on how you can make something exceedingly innovative and complex while at the same time simplifying the nature of construction.
I was fortunate enough to meet Theo Jansen and see the testing of one of his strandbeests when I visited The Hague in 2009. What I took away from this meeting is that he is clearly a genius, and clearly quite insane. He told me that one day his strandbeests would live freely on the beach in great herds and eventually be able to sexually reproduce!
Here's a link to a TED talk Jansen gave in 2007 in which he explains some of the mechanisms used by his creatures: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures.html
Sam Foss
That's unreal! Imagine watching one of these things in real life. I think it's great that he has used recyclable materials to construct his creations; it's inspirational to say the least to see what can be made out of such basic, accessible and relatively cost effective materials when one puts their mind to it. Hopefully the day where they live freely is a while away yet, haha.
ReplyDeleteMatthew Van
So much jealousy right now at you Sam. Jansen's kinetic work is seriously wicked - inspiration and absolutely overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteMotey
(Sarah Mote)
I remember seeing this on TED and thinking it must be a hoax or that I was missing something. Shows what having mechanical knowledge in addition to amazing design skills can do. I think he spoke at AG Ideas a few years ago? His designs are so unbelievably alive, their motion, particularly the machine with the millions of legs, is so insect like it almost makes my skin crawl! Its crazy how he can create life and character out of a bunch of thrown away materials.
ReplyDeleteEd Hamer
This is brilliant! Is the entire thing made out of PVC tubing, plastic bottles and cloth, how does it sense the water and sand dunes?
ReplyDeleteWould be great to see one of these wandering a Victorian beach someday!
Steph Tan
ReplyDeleteI have seen some of his works before, and every time I look at them again it just reminds me how smart this guy is. While everyone else designs dynamic stuff with electronic chips and batteries, he comes up with wind powered, intelligent animals.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the way those 'animals' move. Their movement (legs and feathers) is broken at times and yet very elegant. I still haven't figured out how the animal's 'brain' works and i can't wait to see how he's going to improve his already impressive creations.
Dwayne Chung