Strandbeest. The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen

(Hardback, Multilingual edition)

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For seven years, photographer and artist Lena Herzog followed the evolution of a new kinetic species. Intricate as insects but with bursts of equine energy, the "Strandbeests," or "beach creatures," are the creation of Dutch artist Theo Jansen, who has been working for nearly two decades to generate these new life-forms that move, and even survive, on their own.

Set to roam the beaches of Holland, the Strandbeests pick up the wind in their gossamer wings and spring, as if by metamorphosis, into action. As if it were blood, not the breeze, running through their delicate forms, they quiver, cavort, and trot against the sun and sea, pausing to change direction if they sense loose sand or water that might destabilize their movement.

Coinciding with a traveling exhibition, Herzog's photographic tribute captures Jansen's menagerie in a meditative black and white, showcasing Jansen's imaginative vision, as well as the compelling intersection of animate and inanimate in his creatures. The result is a work of art in its own right and a mesmerizing encounter not only with a very surrealist brand of marvelous, but also with whole new ideas of existence.

Reviews

They really do appear to be alive. Purposeful, resolute. They don't fall into the uncanny valley that afflicts so many other robotic assaults on the absolutely lifelike... they almost seem to evince a soul. * The New York Times Magazine *
Spectacular, mechanical, philosophical beauty all rolled up in the talents of a man who is both artist and artisan in the broader sense of both words. * Forbes *

Author Bio

LA-born Lawrence Weschler is the award-winning author of Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees (about Robert Irwin), True to Life (about David Hockney), Mr. Wilsons Cabinet of Wonders, and Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences, among many others. He lives in New York City. Dutch visual artist Theo Jansen studied science at the University of Delft. He spent his early career painting, before deciding to strike out on a new course by making a real flying saucer which flew over Delft in 1980. Since then he has been working on the creation of the Strandbeest species. Jansens work has been featured in several television programs, as well as in The New Yorker, New Scientist, and Wired. Lena Herzog is a multi-disciplinary artist. She studied Philosophy and Linguistics (Philology), began working primarily in the field of photography and print making since 1997. Herzog is the author of six books of photography; her work has been widely published and reviewed by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review among many others. She is a regular contributing artist to Harpers Magazine. Her work has been collected and exhibited in major museums and institutions around the world. .