Today I visited internationally acclaimed artist and – how he calls himself – kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen, who had an Open Day at his atelier in the suburbs of Den Haag – I didn't know this guy before, one of the other exchange students gave me the tip. 20 minutes on my bike and I reached his little studio atop a grassy embankment. From far away I could already see heaps and piles of long plastic tubes somehow screwed together, lying around carelessly. On top of the hill though, was this huge monster of a construction and it was moving in a weird sideways motion...

Apparently Jansen has the vision of making 'animals', so-called 'strandbeests', that can – only powered by wind and made of the simplest materials, plastic tubes and ropes, nothing else – move on their own on beaches and survive there for several years (if not eternity). Just like real animals. You can read more about this project with has been going on for over 17 years on Strandbeest. Also a very nice guy who took the time to explain his vision and answer questions to every visitor who wanted to. I think he was slightly offended when I asked him, if he could make a living out of this, but hey, I didn't know that he was that big!

You can watch a nice presentation which gives a good overview over Jansen's work and how his creations function here, as well as a BMW TV spot featuring him here. In the video I shot and which is posted below, he uses a generator to create the air pressure that is normally provided by the wind to make the beasts move.