The Jansen went from painting to making a flying saucer (that really flew and caught some attention) to making wind powered mechanisms. These objects are beautiful displays of mechanics and motion. Often far taller than a human being they gracefully walk along the beach as the wind is caught in sails results in the bending of joints and movement of parts. It has been said that these have even been designed with the tools necessary to help clean up the beach. according to strandbeest.com Jansen wants to create a new nature and let heards of these roam the beach and “live their own lives.”
It is true, there is nothing, in the deepest sense, new about the nature of these operations, considering that the physical laws that they depend on to function have been in effect long before Theo Jansen was born. It is true also that the statement that they should “live their own lives lives” is kind of a goofy statement since just because something can be blown by the wind doesn’t mean it is living. Still, without being overly romantic about them we must confess that they do help us to see the beauty of the laws of physics, which are consistently upheld, and the idea of using wind power to clean the beach is quite appealling.