A new exhibition in Delft, The Strandbeesten Mortuary, showcases the life and evolution of Dutch artist Theo Jansen’s iconic wind-powered beach creatures. Made from materials like PVC pipes and plastic bottles, these kinetic sculptures have "lived" and "died" on the Dutch coastline since 1990.
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If you could mash-up natural history with art, you'd probably find Theo Jansen would be close by.
The 77-year-old Dutch artist has been mixing media and combining it with everyday objects since 1990 to produce truly, extraordinary mobile structures that resemble animals.
Now, the life and death cycle of these famous animals — formed mostly out of PVC pipes — has left behind an impressive fossil record, which is on display at a new exhibition along the Dutch North sea coast.
The famous wind-powered beach beasts have appeared in 'The Simpsons and a Miami art fair and now have a final resting place in a Dutch city most famous for “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painter Johannes Vermeer and blue-painted pottery.
The “bones” of Theo Jansen’s “strandbeesten” — beach animals in Dutch — have taken over a former cable factory in Delft, the small city that Jansen has called home for decades.
For more on his amazing work, watch the video in the main player at the top of this page.
