Theo Jansen & Japan: Disappointment & Readjustment

I was looking for videos of Theo Jansen‘s work to show someone, and came across this badly-shot video of his creatures’ mechanisms on display in a building. This made me a bit nervous, because that’s not how I imagined his exhibition in Tokyo at all. When I heard that his work would be at Hibiya Park, I assumed the creatures would be roaming part or all of the park, much like they are on his beach. I marvelled at the obviousness of the exhibition, and wondered how they would manage keeping the creatures relatively contained.

But that video and a fellow sculptor (whose work is amazing) confirmed that the exhibition is indeed more educational and technical than artistic and visionary.

Although I’m disappointed, I’m glad I know about this ahead of time, and I still plan to go to Tokyo. Because, after all, it’s Tokyo. In my preparation for the trip, I have come across many other attractions and contacts to visit, so the trip will still be great. I just wish their curating of Theo Jansen’s work was better.

Tags: , ,

This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 and is filed under art.

Trackback from your site.

Print This Post

Leave a Reply

 

For spam filtering purposes, please copy the number 4528 to the field below:

*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture. Click on the picture to hear an audio file of the word.
Click to hear an audio file of the anti-spam word