theo jansen

Theo Jansen (born March 14, 1948, in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. He builds large works which resemble skeletons of animals and are able to walk using the wind on the beaches of the Netherlands. His animated works are a fusion of art and engineering; in a car company television commercial Jansen says: "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds."

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.

Animaris umerus - New sequences from our shooting in June 2009
The beginning - STRANDBEESTEN
 theo jansen's beach beast
interview theo jansen
Animaris Rhinoceros
Theo Jansen at the Creativity World Forum 2008, Presenting Strandbeest: Making New Life A Theo Jansen´s mechanism