Comedians Try to Move the Strandbeest. Film Screening of “Otona no Kagaku” Held the Following Day.
2015年10月16日(金) Report
Thursday 15th October saw a demonstration event of a Strandbeest named “Animaris Siamesis,” created by Theo Jansen, at Kyoto City Hall Square. Comedians Razor Ramon, Succhi and Yutaka Yoshida joined to try to move the artwork.
Strandbeest is a robot which runs by itself entirely using wind power. Using plastic bottles and the wind power to move, it is the largest Strandbeest measuring some 10 meters long, 5.5 meters wide, and 5 meters high and weighing 240 kg.
To make strong winds using fans, 4 comedians cooperated with children from the audience. Finally the Strandbeest could move 5 meters left and right with zigzaging movements of its wings. Razor Ramon described its dynamic movement as like a scrum of rugby and Succhi was very impressed about the wonderful movements of its feet.
On Friday 16th October, “Otona no Kagaku (Science for Adults)” had a screening and Director Yuko Tadachi came up to the stage. The film is a documentary to show artistic works of Masamitsu Nagaoka, who calls himself “A Trial Manufacture Specialist”.
He created a lot of products for Otona no Kagaku Magazine, and after he left the company, he formed his studio “Takumi”. He has been creating many scientific materials and the films especially picking up how Nagaoka reproduced the miniature scale of “Animaris Rhinoceros Transport” by Theo Jansen, the Strandbeest creator, who is known as the great kinetic artist of the Netherlands.
The Chief Editor of the magazine, Masayuki Nishimura who started the “Mini Animaris Rhinoceros” project, also appeared on stage.
Tadachi talked about the reasons he made this documentary. “I appreciate their serious attitude to the crazy and funny ideas that make such a gigantic robot into a super small size.”
Before the screening, a demonstration of Rhinoceros was held as a secret gift from Theo. The audience appreciated its spectacular movements and gave a lot of applause. Also they were impressed about the detailed works of Nagaoka in the film. After the screening of about 50 minutes, people came closer to Rhinoceros and observed it carefully.
