Theo Jansen (born March 14, 1948, in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. He builds large works which resemble skeletons of animals and are able to walk using the wind on the beaches of the Netherlands. His animated works are a fusion of art and engineering; in a car company television commercial Jansen says: "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds."
Since 1990 Theo Jansen has been occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.
The History of BMX Side Hacks is Founded on Rick's Bike Shop Riders, John Palfreyman and Doug Takahashi. In the early 1970\'s when organized BMX competition was still new and evolving, Motorcycle Motocross was a powerful influence in shaping how this new bicycle focused sport would develop. A great many of BMX\'s earliest riders were already racing motorcycles or in the case of the youngest pedal crossers, they came from families where parents or older siblings were racing motorcycles. It is no surprise then that in this earliest period of BMX, Sidehack racing was a natural progression for those kids that were already racing the modified Stingrays in ways that emulated their heroes from Motocross racing. Sometime around 1972, two young men that were already racing bicycles in the first wave of BMX in Southern California took the initiative and developed a BMX bicycle with a sidehack car with the intention to race it. This was John Palfreyman and Doug Takah...
May 19, 2011 by Matt DeAngelis VC Johnson is the genius behind the graphics that propelled Powell·Peralta into the stratosphere. His iconic images have inspired countless others to not only draw, but in some cases, to begin skating in the first place. An enigmatic figure, he disappeared off of the radar for almost 20 years until starting to work with Pocket Pistols a few years ago, and now back in his rightful place, Powell·Peralta. MD: So how did skateboard graphics fit into a journey of self exploration? VCJ: They answered to the needs of the soul that chose the body. The soul that inherited, that grabbed the baton in my early 30s had a very different mandate and how it affected the life is fascinating. I can see this in other souls who’ve come to profound turning points in their lives and I’ve shared notes with those souls who have experienced a transformation at the core of being. I come back to the company interested in a different o...
After we took a look at the modern jazz scene of Czechoslovakia in the previous episode of the Focus on European Jazz series, it’s time to delve into the jazz music of its neighbouring country Hungary. This is quite a logical step, as the history of the jazz scenes in Czechoslovakia and Hungary show many parallels. Being both Eastern European countries, Czechoslovakia and Hungary suffered from extreme left regimes that undoubtedly put their stamp on the history of their country’s jazz music. In Hungary, the harsh communist regime was installed right after the Second World War. This regime was opposed to jazz, as it was perceived as music with a distinctive Western character that represented freedom and other principles that did not fit the Soviet ideology. In 1956, the Hungarian people stood up against this regime, but the Soviet troops reacted heavily and killed 20.000 people. In that year the Hungarian borders were open for a brief period, during which approximately 250....
