David Gordon – Inspiring Computational Work : Theo Jansen’s Strand

When one thinks of current computational art, one instinctively assumes the presence of electricity and the substantial processing power that comes with it. However, Theo Jansen has made it clear to me that one does not need either to create elegant works of art:

Jansen has single handedly created what he calls “Strand Beasts”: giant walking physical computers made out of nothing but PVC piping, twine, plastic bags, and a few empty water bottles. Using ingenious mechanical logic gates, Jansen programmed his beasts to, powered exclusively by wind, prowl the beaches, avoid water, and even hunker down in the event of a dangerously windy day. In the future, Jansen’s beasts could be entirely autonomous entities, surviving on nothing but wind power and their own decision making. The elegance and efficiency of this project has inspired me profoundly, and introduced to me the idea that the actual method of computation can be a work of art in and of itself.