Dutch visual artist Theo Jansen is on the PopTech stage in the first morning’s session. He amazes and astonishes everyone in the audience……
He talks about the Animaris Sabulosa – a colossal sculpture turned into a conceptual fossil could be from another galaxy.
He shows us the Animaris Rigide walking and explains how it was created and why this is significant. The materials are from the industrialized world: bruised-ochre PVC electrical conduit, cable ties, and adhesive tape. We see the creature walking on a beach, wet sand, into the wind. The simulations are digital and optimized to move in the various environments he talks about. Remarkable.
Each limb is composed of a geometrical arrangement of tubes, and according to another piece about his work, “the lengths of which the computer selects from a finite range of 1500 randomly determined segments. The joints are placed to articulate the closest approximation of the leg’s ideal curve through space as the creature walks. The head both resembles and functions as a sail.”
In his life work, he has essentially been trying to create a new type of nature.
Jansen’s plans are to make the animal stay alive by itself. He says on stage, “After that, we can use the genetical code (in the past, he did this hand), to make them multiply using the pumps. The animals will be immortal after that, running through the world, just like children….these are my ‘mental children.'”
Tag: PopTech, Tag: PopTech 2005, Tag: Theo Jansen
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
