Huge Spider of La Machine

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts, Pictures, Travel & Places on September 4, 2008 at 1:42 am


Overnight, a huge mechanical spider appeared on the side of an office building set to be demolished in Liverpool, England:

The 37-tonne beast heralds the start of a five-day piece of street theatre as part of the Capital of Culture year. It has been built by French company La Machine, which in 2006 brought the streets of London to a standstill with the Sultan’s Elephant.

The spider is believed to be "waking up" on Friday.

It will descend from its current position on the side of Concourse House on Thursday to be moved to the city’s new arena, before coming to life on Friday. The creature will then begin exploring the city later that evening.

Link - via Ectoplasmosis

Update 9/7/08 - here’s the spider walking around Liverpool: Link - Thanks Justin!



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COMMENT

13 comments to "Huge Spider of La Machine"

  1. Lydia
    September 4th, 2008 at 6:16 am

    That’s it. I’ll never sleep soundly again.

  2. Scotchdrnkr
    September 4th, 2008 at 7:26 am

    This thing gives me the creeps. Imagine seeing this piece of art walking down the street after having a few in the local pub and not knowing about the art show.

  3. anon
    September 4th, 2008 at 9:24 am

    “La Machine” is the name of the performance. The company responsible for this and The Sultan’s Elephant is named Artichoke.

    http://www.artichoke.uk.com/

  4. SenorMysterioso
    September 4th, 2008 at 10:10 am

    looks like a nightmare for people with fear of spiders

  5. alice
    September 4th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    I wish I was in Liverpool!
    Anyone there, or actually seen it?

  6. Martha
    September 4th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    I love spiders. I wish it could come to London.

    I once had a pet tarantula.

    Spiders are not insects but Arachnids.

  7. ted
    September 4th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Oh, well, if they’re only arachnids, I guess my irrational fear of spiders is utterly baseless.

    (okay, I’m actually only just a little creeped out by the bigger ones)

  8. Vinterdekk
    September 4th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    I wish I could go to Liverpool and see this for myself. Spiders are way cool.

  9. Angstrom
    September 5th, 2008 at 6:03 am

    I’ve seen it a couple of times over the last few days.
    Last night I went to where it was ’sleeping’, by the Echo Arena. I got right up close.

    I jokingly told the security guard that “some French guy said it was OK for me to take it for a ride” and he said it takes 16 people to do that. There are control seats all over it, sort of embedded into it.

    Local taxi drivers are having a grumble-fest about the ‘wasted’ taxes which have been spent on it. If the government asked me what I wanted my taxes spending on, the very first thing would be “a giant robot spider please!”

  10. TwoDragons
    September 5th, 2008 at 8:34 am

    I would sooooooo hire 16 people to power that thing, just so I could ride it around the block a few times! :-D

    the only thing that could make it cooler is if it was a giant Drider. /geek

    –TwoDragons

  11. bob23
    September 5th, 2008 at 12:55 pm

    i saw the spider and it doesnt walk by itself the legs are fake! it is just mounted on a truck. You would think for 2million they could have made it walk.

  12. cormier
    September 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    The spider has just been printed as an original handsigned lithograph… have a look at http://www.husgallery. com . you’ll also find some other drawings by François Delaroziere

  13. Zack
    September 9th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    Looks just like a real life version of Ghost in the Shell’s Tachikomas


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