If in previous years it was possible to admire Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest (literally “beach animals”) freely strolling along The Hague’s coast, now these creatures have been imprisoned at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, where they are on display until 19 May 2019.
The Dutch artist, who studied Applied Physics at the Delft University of Technology, builds his primitive skeletons using industrial materials – plastic tubes, nylon threads and adhesive tapes – and makes them move thanks to a complex system of pumps that exploit wind power, without the aid of sensors or motors.
His installations are a combination of innovation, sustainability and creativity blending scientific and humanistic knowledge, art and science, prehistory and post-modern times, nature and technology. It is therefore no coincidence that Theo Jansen is considered by everyone to be the “modern Leonardo Da Vinci”.