The great pretender

A BMW advertisement calls Theo Jansen a kinetic sculptor, but Jansen considers his pieces to be more than inorganic objects. He refers to his beach-walking creatures -- created out of a type of yellow PVC tubing ubiquitous in the Netherlands -- not in the language of materials and artistic process but in the biological nomenclature of cellular processes and evolution.His animals -- which crawl, lurch, and slither along the damp sand between the dunes and the ocean -- have muscles (pumps made from soda bottles that manipulate and store wind pressure), nerves (switches that control the action of pumps), and even a brain (a step-counter and timer based on the inverter and RC circuit in electronics), all built out of plastic and PVC, without any electronics. Jansen also equips his creatures with thin tubes that detect the resistance of water or dry sand so that they know if they reach the ocean or the dunes -- the boundaries of their territory. When they reach the ocean, a set of "nerves" changes their direction and they change course."A good advantage of the animals is they don't have to eat--they eat the wind," Jansen says. "That's why they might have a chance on the beaches: There's a lot of wind, not much food."Jansen studied physics at University of Delft in Holland in the late 1960s, but left his program because of "the hippie-time thing." He became a painter, and in the 1980s, began a column in de Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper. In the early 90s, Jansen conceived of his first beach animal and gave himself one year to develop and complete the project. After that year, he had an animal with faulty, Sellotape joints that couldn't even stand, let alone walk. Now, seventeen years later, he has created about 25 creatures. He is continually developing them so that they can eventually detect tides accurately and safeguard themselves during storms.The beach-walkers have averaged ten meters in length, two meters in width and 3.2 meters in height. He is currently working on one that will be 15 meters long. Many of the older animals have "died out," Jansen says, now stored in a boneyard near Jansen's cabin in Ypenburg, The Netherlands. Some are also hanging in public buildings as works of art.Jansen lists events on his Web site for exhibitions or lectures around the world, as well as open days when people can visit his workshop. He is planning to return to the beach near Ijmuiden, also in the Netherlands, for three weeks this spring. "I try to forget what I know about animals," Jansen says. "What I really want is to make a new creation, and have my path be lead by the function of the animals." Jansen hopes the creatures will eventually learn to be completely self-sufficient, existing on the beaches in herds without any intervention from their creator. "I hope these animals can survive on the beaches, so I can quietly go and these animals will live on."Jonathan Scheff mail@the-scientist.comTo watch Jansen's creations in motion, click on one of the following links: Animaris Geneticus Ondula, Animaris Currens Ventosa and Animaris Rhinoceros Transport.Videos of Animaris Geneticus Ondula, Animaris Currens Ventosa and Animaris Rhinoceros Transport provided by Theo Jansen.Correction (Dec. 3, 2007): When originally posted, the story said that Jansen's column is called "The Great Pretender." This is the title of his book, not his column, which is called "Reflection" or "Reflectie" in Dutch. We regret the error.Links within this article:"The weird and wonderful world of Theo Jansen," BMW Magazine online, March 2007. http://www.bmw.com/Theo Jansen http://www.strandbeest.com/"Theo Jansen: The art of creating creatures," Technology, Entertainment, Design, Sept. 2007. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/162Events with Theo Jansen http://www.strandbeest.com/sb/event/Animaris Geneticus Ondula by Theo Jansen http://images.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/113007/video2.htmlAnimaris Currens Ventosa by Theo Jansen http://images.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/113007/video1.htmlAnimaris Rhinoceros Transport by Theo Jansen http://images.the-scientist.com/supplementary/flash/113007/video3.html

The great pretender

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