well to say it was hot is an understatement and what i really wanted to do was sit under a tree with a nice long cold gin and tonic or something equally cool! However we suffer for our art and headed to Exmouth beach: so did everyone else!as in a previous blog i had mentioned Theo Jansen's Strandbeests (beach animals) and the fact he was showing one at Exmouth this June.
it took him almost 2 years to make this 'skeleton', which as he explained is in fact 2 joined together, hence the name Siamesis.
he also explained (above) that they are constructed from plastic tubes and plastic bottles which store energy from the wind in the form of compressed air and then are pumped up by the wind powered wings.
the wings are amazing,the sails expand and they then move around in the wind, much like the cape worn by one of the 'scissor sisters's singers at Glastonbury last night! i wish i could have recorded the noise the creaking plastic and the movement the wings made, somewhat boat like and mesmerizing. i wanted to be transported to a desert island , under my tree again (oh and yes of course with the gin)!!
this looks like some sort of backbone.
the only problem with Exmouth was that it didn't like our 'fluffy' sand! its feet are quite small and there wasn't enough wind so they had to resort to a compressor!
there was also a smaller beast you could try moving for yourself. this is my son moving far too fast to be captured by a decent camera shot! i still think they lend themselves best to deserted wintry beaches (with hard sand) but it was great to see one in the 'flesh/plastic'!
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