Museums & Collections | August 11, 2015

Theo Jansen's "strandbeests" visit the Peabody Essex Museum

Dutch artist Theo Jansen's otherworldly strandbeests

by Nell Porter-Brown

From The September-October 2015 Issue

*Animaris Adulari* (2012)
Photographs courtesy of Theo Jansen

*Animaris Apodiacula* (2013)
Photographs courtesy of Theo Jansen

**Dutch artist Theo Jansen melds art and engineering in his intricate skeletal sculptures.** | Photograph by Loek van der Klis

PVC tubing and zip ties form the essential “bones” of Dutch artist Theo Jansen’s otherworldy yet mobile strandbeests (“beach animals”), eight of which are on display at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) starting September 19. Included is his latest and never-before-seen Animaris Umerus Segundus, along with sketches that offer insight into Jansen’s creative process during the last 25 years; “fossils” of creatures no longer “alive”; and video of some “beests” traveling in gangly equine elegance along a sandy seacoast in The Netherlands. Also on view are original photographs by Lena Herzog (published last year in Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen) who spent seven years documenting the origins and inner workings of this new kinetic species. This marks the first major American show of Jansen’s large-scale works; it moves on to the Chicago Cultural Center and San Francisco’s Exploratorium. Jansen himself will visit the Greater Boston area for a few events, such as a panel discussion (to be webcast) with Trevor Smith, PEM’s curator of the present tense, and MIT associate professor of media arts and sciences Neri Oxman, taking place on September 10 (3-5 p.m.) at the MIT Media Lab—followed by a live, outdoor demonstration of a walking strandbeest (5:30-7 p.m.).

Published in the September-October 2015 print issue under the headline “Curiosities: Animating a New Species at the Peabody Essex Museum,” in the Harvard Squared section.

You might also like

A vase of yellow flowers on a table next to an orange and a glass.

Harvard Art Museums restores a rare glimpse of an American master.

A photograph of the inside of the From Iran exhibit at the Harvard Peabody Museum

Tk tk Iran

Artist Azadeh Akhlaghi reconstructs moments of Iranian political upheaval in a series of meticulously staged images.

Label showing the anatomy of a worker bee, featuring a detailed illustration.

Science and art capture the microscopic natural world.

Most popular

Ornate wrought iron gate detail against a clear blue sky.

FAS leaders say restructuring will be complete by mid-October.

A busy classroom filled with students working at computers, colorful decor, and a bright atmosphere.

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

Two laboratory researchers, one seated and one standing, in a scientific lab with equipment.

The stakes are high for this husband and wife: one of them will die if they don’t find a cure.

Explore More From Current Issue

Three hands hold smartphones displaying social media profiles with likes and hearts.

Tell us about how social media impacts your daily life.

Portrait of a man in a denim shirt beside a blue book cover for "Gretal and the Great War" featuring an illustration of a leg holding an army helmet..

Arts & Culture

The Gretel and the Great War author on how the Lampoon derailed his science career—and set him on a literary path.

University Hall with steps and the John Harvard statue, surrounded by trees and a grassy lawn.

University News

Long-discussed reorganization includes layoffs and the end of the Dudley Community.