After Dark

Cinema Arts: A Boy’s Dream

7:30 p.m.
Kanbar Forum

I am creating a new nature . . . a new species.
—Theo Jansen

For the last several decades, Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been making strandbeests, or “beach animals,” enormous kinetic sculptures of PVC tubing that move and behave like living creatures. Constructed on the wild and picturesque beaches near Jansen’s home in the Netherlands, each strandbeest is approached by the artist as part of a natural evolution, one in which the beest—not the artist—is the judge of when the work is complete. Jansen shares his intensely personal drive to create these creatures, one that is deeply rooted in his childhood.

A Boy's Dream follows Jansen as he embarks on the beests’ first North American tour. How can artists reconcile their loss of control over personal works as they begin to share their art with the world? Faced with the pragmatic needs of the ambitious tour, Jansen must confront his philosophical anxieties related to releasing his beloved creatures to both a wider audience and an art world with financial underpinnings, raising larger questions about the relationships between artists and their audiences.

Featuring:
A Boy’s Dream (2015, 75 min.) by Walther Grotenhuis

This program is presented in conjunction with Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen, a temporary exhibition running Friday, May 27 through Monday, September 5, 2016.

Photo © Lena Herzog

Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen is organized by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA. Audemars Piguet provided generous support as the tour's National Sponsor. ABC7 is the exhibition’s local media sponsor with additional support from SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Tactile Dome

6:15–10:00 p.m.
Bernard and Barbro Osher West Gallery

Take an excursion through total darkness in our Tactile Dome. Crawl, slide, and bump your way through the pitch-dark Dome using your sense of touch as your only guide through its chambers and mazes.

Please Note: Due to the nature of this experience, certain restrictions apply. Guests who are afraid of the dark; claustrophobic; have back, neck, or knee injuries; or are in their third trimester of pregnancy should not participate. Guests wearing casts are prohibited. Also, please wear comfortable clothes.

Learn more about the Tactile Dome.