Chiba Prefectural Museum Of Art To Hold Theo Jansen Exhibition

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) -- The Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art will hold an exhibition of Theo Jansen, a world-renowned Dutch artist, from Oct 27 to Jan 21, next year, as a cultural exchange project with the Netherlands.

The exhibition is in conjunction with this year marking the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Chiba Prefecture, according to a statement.

Chiba Prefecture has a long history of exchanges with the Netherlands as Dutch studies used to be encouraged in a region within the prefecture.

Meanwhile, Jansen who was born in 1948 is called the "Leonardo da Vinci of modern times" as an artist, inventor and a scientist.

His major work is the so-called "strandbeest" (Dutch for 'beach lifeforms'), made by piecing together off-the-shelf materials such as plastic tubes and adhesive tapes based on physics calculation. Strandbeest feeds on wind to come to life and walk on sandy beaches.

This exhibition will showcase more than 10 works, including an enormous strandbeest measuring over 10 metres in length, together with Jansen's hand-drawn sketches, and tools used in their production, among other items.

A daily event where the strandbeest walks in the museum will also be held, while on Dec 3, there will be an event in which the public can participate in walking the strandbeest on the beach, first-ever such programme in Japan.

Hence, visitors will have the opportunity to watch before their very eyes the gigantic art piece moving as if it was a living creature against the backdrop of the ocean.

-- BERNAMA