Early this month, I have heard on the news about a gigantic mechanical spider clinging to a derelict building in Liverpool, England. According to its performance artists at La Machine the story about the spider goes something like this…It appears to be female, around 13 metres tall and has been dubbed ‘La Princesse’ by the specialist researchers. The scientists believe the creature may be about to hibernate, and are attempting to prevent it falling into an inert state, as they are concerned with the potentially catastrophic results of the spider laying up to 1000 eggs. Scientists have therefore removed the spider from the building and taken it to a research base established at the ACC, at Albert Dock in Liverpool. The end.

La Princesse has been commissioned by the creative arts company and charitable trust Artichoke as one of the highlights at the 2008 Capital of Culture celebrations. One thing is for sure, it will attract thousands of visitors who just want to get a glimpse of the mechanical beast. The spider is made out of steel and poplar wood and will be operated by 12 people strapped to its frame. A attempt to wake La Princesses was done on Friday September 5th.  It was a success and the spider was moving around and spraying the public with water. Thousands of people have braved the wet weather to watch La Princesse being woken to an accompaniment of music from airborne musicians.

La Machine was also the designer of the mechanical elephant and the giant girl for Royal de Luxe’s performance of the The Sultan’s Elephant which brought the people of London in May 2006 to a standstill with amazement. Brilliant engineering!