With this year marking the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Chiba Prefecture, the Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art will hold an exhibition of Theo Jansen, a world-renowned Dutch artist, from October 27, 2023, to January 21, 2024, as a cultural exchange project with the Netherlands. Chiba Prefecture has a long history of exchanges with the Netherlands as Dutch studies used to be encouraged in a region within the prefecture.

Image 1: Animaris Plaudens Vela 2013 (C)Theo Jansen

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102229/202310100812/_prw_PI1fl_6522821n.jpg

Image 2: Animaris Ordis 2006 (C)Theo Jansen

https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M102229/202310100812/_prw_PI2fl_AnPbg4tt.png

Theo Jansen (born in 1948) is called the "Leonardo da Vinci of modern times" as an artist, inventor, and scientist. His major work is the so-called "strandbeest" (Dutch for 'beach lifeforms'), made by piecing together off-the-shelf materials such as plastic tubes and adhesive tapes based on physics calculation. Strandbeests feed on wind to come to life and walk on sandy beaches.

This exhibition will showcase more than 10 works, including an enormous strandbeest measuring over 10 meters in length, together with Jansen’s hand-drawn sketches, and tools used in their production, among other items. There will be a daily event where a strandbeest walks in the museum.

Furthermore, on December 3 (Sunday), 2023, there will be an event in which anyone can participate in walking a strandbeest on the beach -- the first-ever such program in Japan. Visitors will have the opportunity to watch before their very eyes the gigantic art piece moving as if it were a living creature against the backdrop of the ocean.

Overview

- Venue: Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art

- Address: 1-10-1 Chuoko, Chuo-ku, Chiba City

- Exhibition period: October 27 (Friday), 2023 - January 21 (Sunday), 2024

- Closed: Every Monday, year-end/New Year holidays (December 28, 2023 - January 4, 2024), and January 9 (Tuesday), 2024

- Opening hours: 9:00-16:30 (last admission at 16:00)

- Admission fees: Adults 1,000 yen, high school & university students 500 yen (free for seniors over 65 years old, and junior high school students or younger)

- Website: http://www2.chiba-muse.or.jp/www/ART/contents/1520270199902/index.html