The Telefonica’s Foundation has among its interests to show artists as Theo Jansen that focus their work around a dialectics between science and art. The Foundation, who has been working more than 2 years to make the exhibition possible, shows us a fascinating world created by the called Leonardo da Vinci of the XX Century: creatures that become alive with the wind.
Exhibition description by The Telefonica’s Foundation
Theo Jansen (b. The Netherlands, 1948) is internationally renowned as the creator of the famous Strandbeests or “beach beasts”, kinetic animal-like sculptures made from plastic tubes and designed to move whit the wind as it gusts along the beaches of Holland. The hybrid product of a physics education and an inquisitive artistic mind. Theo Jansen´s fascination with the theory of evolution inspired him to begin developing this new “life form” in 1990. The idea originated with his musings on how to prevent potential flooding along the Dutch coast, when he imagined a being capable of inhabiting and protection those beaches. The result was the birth of these surprising creatures, which have evolved and improved their capabilities over time.
The system used to produce the beach beasts is incredibly complex, but that mechanical intricacy is achieved using very simple materials and tools: plastic tubes and bottles, tape, heat guns, etc. With these resources, Jansen manages to develop and perfect the abilities of his sculptural animals, which have gradually evolved to the point where they can stand, walk with the wind, weather storms, store energy in their “stomachs”, archive self-propulsion and even have something akin to a brain.
In the course of more than two decades, Jansen has produced a large family of amazing creatures with Latin-based names that have gradually taken on individual personalities according to their qualities and virtues. He divides this new species chronologically into seven evolutionary stages, according to the progress and degree of autonomy that his beach beasts have achieved.
This exhibition features thirteen Strandbeests from different evolutionary periods. Nine fossils and four still-active beasts fill the gallery. Two of them, pertaining to the latest generation, will come to life and walk through the room at prearranged times.
It all began with a plastic tube
Plastic tubing is the material of which Jansen´s creatures are made. This type of tube normally used to insulate electrical wiring. Is flexible but can also be rigid when arranged to form triangular structure. It is very lightweight and durable.
Every year Theo Jansen faces a new challenge: to improve upon the last beach animal he created make more efficient and able to accomplish some new feat. At his workshop, the year´s activity begins in October. After making and assembling the parts, he does the first tests. In springtime, when the weather improves, the artist takes his creature out onto a beach near his home and experiments with it over the summer. Afterwards, Jansen takes the piece back to the workshop where it becomes what he calls a fossil, as he does not repair the flaws or damage suffered by the sculpture during its time on the beach. He then starts in on his mext creature, discarding the mechanisms that have proved less efficient and working to develop new abilities.
The exhibition has been produced by The Telefonica’s Foundation.
Date.- From 23 October 2015 to 17 January 2016.
Venue.- Third floor plan, The Telefonica’s Foundation space, Madrid, Spain.
