Artist Research - Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen

"The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds."

Rarely has an art project sprung from a BMW commercial however it was this quote that prompted the idea of doing a project which combines engineering and art. Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist and engineer who has the very simple life goal of creating artificial life from PVC. In 1990 Jansen begun his life's work which has made him world famous today, he has created large animal like art works called Strandbeests, the works move on their own gaining power from the wind and have a degree of artificial mechanical intelligence which allows them to move around obstacles. 

Strandbeest is Dutch for beach beast, these machines have been call kinetic art and artificial life, the first few Strandbeests were unable to move on their own but over the last 25 years they have developed to be able to move on their own and react to their environments. Jansen’s long term plan is to release herds of Strandbeests so they can live on after his death. Now I grant you that it seems unlikely that new life will come from  intricate assemblages of piping, wood, and wing-like sails however the most recent Strandbeests can detect when they enter the sea then change direction and sense oncoming storm then anchor themselves. What is perhaps the greatest feats of engineering is that Jansen has developed a way of storing wind pressure in recycled bottles so the Strandbeests can move even when there's no wind. His website states:

‘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’

The works explore humanity's relationship with life, to be scientifically alive it is required for a living thing to be able to create new life. Jansen talks about his works as though they are alive, and to an extent like they are children which I’m choosing to think is charming as opposed to creepy. One of the oddest human traits is our attachment to objects. The scientific term for someone who loves an object is an objectum sexual, we've all heard stories about people who marry objects and at some point everyone has declared their love for an inanimate object. I can understand Jansen's relationship with his life like work because I feel massive paternal instinct towards my work. Jansen's work discusses the relationship between people and their desire to create life but also comments on the relationship between people and art as well as artists and their art.