Theo Jansen is a sculptor, kinetic scientist and designer of a new species called “strandbeest“, beach animal. Born in the dunes near Delft, Jansen’s animals seem to be alive as they move across the windswept beach. He turns plastic tubes, the colour of bones, into an intelligent design and sets them in motion through a complex interaction of air, gravity and friction. These sculptures have made Theo Jansen well-known around the world, and even if they may not exactly be alive, they make us see life with different eyes.
Producer: Marijke van der Meer
Broadcast: August 20, 2007
To see a beach animal in motion, go to Theo Jansens’s website.