La Machine

François Delarozière's La Princesse via Dune_UK's flickr photostream

Created by French engineering mastermind François Delarozière and his production company La Machine, this 37-ton, steel-and-poplar-wood spider traveled through Liverpool, England as a public art installation. This arachnid-like apparatus, named La Princesse, is so outlandish that it could easily be mistaken for an alien invader from War of the Worlds. Locals and tourists alike gawked at the spectacular (but mildy creepy) masterpiece of art and engineering.

The Sultan's Elephant via Simon Crubellier's flickr photostream

A few years ago, La Machine also created a marionette girl and a magnificent mechanical elephant as part of a street show for the Royal de Luxe theater company. Like an intricately decorated wooden toy out of a giant toy box, the elephant entertained thousands of spectators in the streets of London.

For some reason, I find these mechanical animals really fascinating. Despite the fact that they are artificial, inanimate objects, they seem to exude a sense of mystery that has the power to whisk us far away from reality, to a land of fantasy.. I wonder if we'll ever see one of these roaming the streets of San Francisco. Someday maybe.


Now for a dash of reality, I must return to the mountain of homework awaiting me.
jennie