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After Dark: Strandbeest
Featuring The Lighter Side of Wonder: Lena Herzog in Conversation with Marina McDougall
Thursday, June 2, 2016
The Lighter Side of Wonder
$15 General; $10 Members; Free for Lab Members; $10 Add-On Ticket for the Tactile Dome Available for Purchase Onsite
Adults Only (18+)
Note: Some programs have limited seating and will be made available to visitors on a first-come, first-served basis.
Experience Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen. On tour for the first time in North America, Dutch artist Theo Jansen’s strandbeests—or “beach animals”—are mesmerizing in their motions and eerily lifelike. Equipped with sensory organs and ever-evolving survival strategies, they walk a wandering, wind-blown line between art and engineering, mechanics and biology.
Tonight, immerse yourself in the evolutionary history of Jansen’s unique, kinetic species. Take in the architectural grandeur of strandbeests at rest, and view artist sketches, video, and the lyrical photography of Lena Herzog, who will discuss her years documenting the project in a special conversation with Marina McDougall, Director of the Exploratorium’s Center for Art and Inquiry.
Explore the mathematics behind the beests’ complex ambulatory systems with Exhibit Developer Paul Stepahin, and experiment with making some mechanical linkages of your own with the help of Explainers and Explorables volunteers.
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.
Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen
Theo Jansen’s self-propelling kinetic creations were at the Exploratorium May 27–September 5, 2016.
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Tonight's Schedule
The Lighter Side of Wonder
Lena Herzog in Conversation with Marina McDougall8:30 p.m.
Kanbar Forum
“There is nothing conceited about strandbeests, even though they are sophisticated and multilayered. And that combination of sophistication and simplicity extends even to their construction, because if you look at them they seem complex but actually they are built up from repetitions of just a handful of core principles.”
—Lena Herzog, in conversation with Lawrence Weschler
Documentary and fine art photographer Lena Herzog's lyrical photographs of artist Theo Jansen and his strandbeests have shaped our perception of the artist and his life’s work. Herzog began chronicling the evolution of strandbeests in 2007, and capturing their charming, lifelike motion as they ambled over Dutch coastal landscapes.
Her photographs, recently published in lush print and electronic books (Taschen, 2016), inspired the exhibition Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen. Tonight, she joins Marina McDougall, Director of the Exploratorium’s Center for Art & Inquiry, in conversation to describe what it was like to discover, come to know, and translate the work of Jansen. Herzog will share what is entailed when one artist chooses to document the vision of another.
Russian American photographer Lena Herzog was born in 1970 in the Urals. She studied languages and literature at the University of Saint Petersburg before moving to the United States. After working at Stanford University as a research assistant and completing her degree in philosophy at Mills College, she devoted herself to photography, studying traditional darkroom photographic printing techniques and combining them with modern techniques to achieve her unique effects. Her work appears widely in major publications and in museum exhibitions around the world. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
Marina McDougall is the Director of the Exploratorium’s Center for Art & Inquiry, where she develops the strategy for the museum’s cross-disciplinary work in the arts and oversees the Artist-in-Residence and Over the Water programs. As a curator with 25 years experience organizing exhibitions and public programs, McDougall specializes in interdisciplinary and hybrid artistic practices. She is Adjunct Professor in the California College of the Arts Curatorial Practice Program and serves on the board of the Seed Fund.
The Blind Watchmaker
With Paul Stepahin
7:30 p.m. | Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery
Theo Jansen’s strandbeests are made up of many interesting organs. They have legs that take elegant strides. They have stomachs to store energy, allowing them to walk even when there’s no wind. They can even detect water and count their steps. Explore strandbeest anatomy and what it reveals about living creatures and the process of natural selection.
Motions and Mechanisms
With Tinkering Studio Staff
6:30–9:30 p.m. | South Gallery, Tinkering Studio
Linkages are the basis of many types of mechanical motion. Join Tinkering Studio staff to create whimsical kinetic sculptures from both familiar and unfamiliar materials.
Slakslee
With Danny Snyder and Rob Wilson
6:30–9:30 p.m. | Roaming
Take a hop-on, hop-off tour of the Exploratorium traveling at exquisitely slow speeds measured in feet-per-hour.
Inspired by Theo Jansen’s ability to infuse life and soul into elegant kinetic sculptures, Field Trip Explainers Rob Wilson and Danny Snyder have liberated one of the Exploratorium’s most evocative, yet underutilized exhibits, Eric Thogerson’s Moving Bench. Renamed Slakslee, the Bench becomes a giant snail journeying inch by inch toward San Francisco.
The Slakslee tour includes information about gear systems, snails, and the history of the arts at the Exploratorium. As you amble, your guides will highlight the science behind Slakslee and point out other overlooked Exploratorium experiences.
Straw Hands and Grabbers
With Explorables
7:00–10:00 p.m. | Bechtel Central Gallery
Dive into an exploration of kinetic motion and articulation with two deceptively simple contraptions based on the human hand.
Our hands are versatile: You can pick up a pen, grab a cup, or climb a tree without giving these activities much thought. But building an artificial hand capable of all these tasks is quite a challenge. Try making a simple, artificial gripper to pick up small objects, or construct an extendable grabber with reusable materials.
Photo by Gayle Laird © Exploratorium
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. This exhibition is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York. ABC7 is the local media sponsor with additional support from SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Tactile Dome
$10; purchase tickets onsite at the Information Desk6:15–10:00 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.
