I should be composing public service announcements and/or packing right at this very moment, but instead I'm writing about a giant mechanical spider named La Princesse that appeared in Liverpool earlier this month as part of the programs for the city's year as European Capital of Culture. Manufactured by François Delarozière and the mad French geniuses at La Machine, La Princesse thoroughly enchanted Lyn Gardner during the creature's short weekend in town:
The charity Anxiety UK, representing arachnophobics, expressed concerns
about the wisdom of exposing the people of Liverpool to such a
terrifying spectacle, and some others got shirty about the cost, but
what is impossible to measure is the contribution to the national index
of happiness created by this giddy piece of free street theatre, which
for many Liverpudlians will be their only exposure to the Capital of
Culture programme.
I adore the idea of the huge arachnid interacting with Liverpool's architecture and inviting residents to imagine their city in a new way. And of course I'm dying to know how Delarozière made it work:
This is his first spider, and its appearance is part of the city's
capital of culture celebrations. Even on this dreary, rain-soaked
Friday evening, many more will have seen the spider than the nearby
Playhouse will be able to accommodate for the entire run of Pete
Postlewaite's upcoming King Lear. La Princesse is a big girl, weighing
37 tonnes, and a marvel of engineering. She has 50 hydraulic axes of
movement, took a year to build, and trundles along the road at two
miles an hour.
It seriously sounds like Survival Research Labs crossed with Jules Verne. Phil Hogan went to La Machine's workshop in Nantes, France, to get a preview of La Princesse before she was unveiled to Liverpool:
I go and watch the spider from a distance, the better to marvel at its
finely graded movements - the product of Delarozière's forensic study
of the way spiders express themselves, translated into God knows how
many permutations of hand-worked hydraulics. Through half-closed eyes
the spider seems besieged by little people. If this were a movie,
they'd be trying to subdue it with pitchforks.
Liverpool still has a number of Capital of Culture events on the horizon before 2008 is up, including the aforementioned production of King Lear as well as an exhibition of work by Chinese art and architecture superstar Ai Weiwei, and you can find full coverage here. They're going to have a hard time beating the spider though.
