Royal de Luxe Presents Le Calmar Geant a Retropropulsion

Over on squid.us, we were going through our backlog of submissions and came across “Le Calmar Geant a Retropropulsion” (which translates to The Giant Squid with Reverse Thrust), a beautifully articulated mechanical giant squid, which is one of the featured attractions in “Les Machines de l’le de Nantes”, a new project from the amazing Royal de Luxe (see previously Royal de Luxe in Nantes & London).

Hilary Talbot has a great write up on Les Machines de l’lle de Nantes on Spirits Dancing, which includes some photos from the exhibit by Claude Joannis.

Planned as a new artistic, cultural and tourist venture, and part of an urban renewal of the docklands, it consists of numerous large mechanical creatures to build dreams around, imagined by Francois Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice. They are installed in the great naves of the old shipyards on the island of Nantes, France.

Here’s the giant squid in action.

photos by Claude Joannis