La Princesse
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La Princesse is a 15-metre (50-foot) mechanical
spider Spiders (order (biology), order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude spider silk, silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and ran ...
designed and operated by French
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
company La Machine. The spider was showcased in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, as part of the 2008
European Capital of Culture A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...
celebrations, travelling around the city between 3–7 September. In 2009, it was on display in
Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, as part of Yokohama's 150th anniversary of its port opening. Arts reviewer Lyn Gardner wrote in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' "There were times when it seemed to be leading the entire population of the city on a merry dance, like some kind of arachnid pied piper."


Design

The spider was designed by La Machine's François Delarozière, who also designed the mechanical elephant and the giant girl for Royal de Luxe's performance of The Sultan's Elephant which visited London in May 2006. Both projects were brought to the UK by the company and charitable trust Artichoke. The spider was built in
Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
in France, using steel and poplar wood and complex
hydraulics Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...
, and took an entire year to construct. It was shipped to
Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...
and assembled in a secret location, the
Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...
shipyard in
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
. It weighs 37 tonnes, has 50 axes of movement and is operated by up to 12 people strapped to its body. When operated, it moves at 2 miles per hour; to move it around the streets requires 16 cranes, six
forklift truck A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...
s, eight cherry pickers and 250 crew.


Performance and narrative

The performance artists of La Machine created a story about the spider with one member of the company playing scientist Joseph Browning who gave interviews to the press. The spider was followed by a full live band, housed in their own platforms on top of
forklift trucks A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...
and cherry pickers. The musicians played specially composed music by Dominique Malan, the special effects were designed by Thierry Loridant and the costumes were designed by Gaelle Choveau.


First appearance

On Wednesday 3 September the spider appeared for the first time on the side of Concourse House, a derelict tower block in Lime Street, which had been designed by architect Richard Seifert and was scheduled for demolition.


'The journey begins'

On the morning of Friday 5 September, the spider moved to the Albert Dock, and it became active at lunchtime, moving in a small area and spraying the public with water. In the evening the spider travelled from the Albert Dock to the
Cunard Building The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's ''Three Graces'', which line the ...
, via Salthouse Dock. A huge crowd turned out despite the heavy rain. The performance move around the Albert Dock and proceeded onto The Strand. The moving cordon of stewards surrounded the spider as it moved through the crowd. The spider sprayed water onto the crowds and interacted with members of the public. It then turned off the Strand and back into the Albert Dock. Here it paused and was lifted from its traction body by a huge crane and into Salthouse Dock, where it was sprayed (along with the crowd) by huge water cannons. After its 'bath' it returned to its traction body and walked along The Strand to its resting place for the night next to the Royal Liver Building.


'City centre rampage'

On Saturday 6 September the spider was due to travel through the streets of Liverpool, 'walking' from the
Cunard Building The Cunard Building is a Grade II* listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Royal Liver Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's ''Three Graces'', which line the ...
via Water Street, Castle St, Lord St, Parker St and Ranelagh Place back up to Concourse House. At 2:30 pm the Performance started with the spider ‘awakening’ and starting to walk up Water Street towards the city centre. Liverpool was crowded with its usual Saturday afternoon shopping crowd and the tens of thousands who had turned out to see the spider. The spider ‘walked’ through the middle of the Saturday shopping crowd, up through the city centre's streets, and right into the heart of the city's shopping district. The crowd was dispersed by the moving cordon around the spider. Local media reported that the scene was more representative of a victory parade of a football team or the crowds attracted by the Beatles to the city centre in their heyday. One bride could not get through the crowds to her wedding at the Town Hall and had to be helped through the crowd on foot by the police. The spider's musicians played an impromptu wedding march as they fought through the crowd. Various set pieces took place along the spider's route, involving smoke, fireworks and water cannon. The spider worked its way towards the main shopping area, passing
Liverpool One Liverpool ONE is a shopping, residential, and leisure complex in Liverpool, England. The project involved the redevelopment of 42 acres (170,000 m2) of land in Liverpool City Centre, the city centre. It is a retail-led development anchored by ...
. When the spider reached the centre of Lord Street, it was covered by a snow shower from above to make it go to sleep. It came to a rest at around 5 pm, taking a break before its further exploits that evening.


'The city fights back'

The next chapter of the story continued the same day and involved the city ‘fighting back’ and attempting to halt the path of the invading spider. At 7:30 pm the spider ‘awoke’ and continued to move up the main shopping street, Church Street. When it reached the top of the street it was met by a barrage of flame cannons. These consisted of long copper pipes, fired with high pressure gas. The heat and noise produced by this halted the spider in its tracks, while a mechanical digger moved in to attempt to fell the beast. The spider then changed its path to escape this and moved upwards towards Lime Street. Upon reaching Lime Street the spider was met by huge fans, which blew air to attempt to hold it back. The performance continued onwards towards Lime Street Station and the empty Concourse Tower, where it had first been sighted on Wednesday. A further barrage of flames stopped the spider from moving on any further and it turned towards the station. Cranes then moved in to lift it from its traction body and, with operators still on board, it started to move into a vertical position. The spider then moved from one crane to another and amazingly attached itself to the side of the tower. A snow shower then engulfed the spider and it went to sleep for the evening.


'The creature departs'

On Sunday 7 September a large crowd of spectators went to the Concourse House to see it climb back down the building. The spider then crawled down the streets of Liverpool city centre, spraying the crowd with water. The spider then moved across St Georges Plateau amongst a huge crowd and down towards the
Queensway Tunnel The Queensway Tunnel ( signposted as the Birkenhead Tunnel or B'head Tunnel) is a road tunnel under the River Mersey, in the north west of England, between Liverpool and Birkenhead. Locally, it is often referred to as the "old tunnel", to disti ...
. Fireworks erupted from surrounding buildings as it passed. Watched by tens of thousands of people, it investigated the area outside the Queensway Tunnel's entrance, setting off huge water cannons and flames around the area, followed by hundreds of fireworks which detonated above the spider and the public. The spider then turned to face the crowd and moved backwards as it disappeared in a cloud of smoke into the tunnel entrance.


Cost

The project, which was free to the public, cost between £1.8 and £1.9 million to stage, of which £1.5 million came from the Liverpool Culture Company (in turn funded by the city, the Arts Council and the
Department of Culture, Media and Sport The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It holds the responsibility for culture and sport, and some aspects of the media throughout the UK, such as broadcasting. I ...
). The cost of the project has been defended by Phil Redmond, who is responsible for the performance as Liverpool Culture Company's artistic director. He said "At £1.5m I think it's actually cheaper than (booking) Macca ( Sir Paul McCartney) and it has got us on the front of the ''
South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...
''. So it's good value for money." However, the project has come in for criticism in some quarters: the UK mental health charity
Anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
has highlighted the potentially traumatic effect of the production upon those suffering with
arachnophobia Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions and ticks. The word "arachnophobia" comes from the Greek words arachne and phobia. Signs and symptoms People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they b ...
." The vast majority of the public response was positive, however, with most of the belief that "The Liverpool Princesse's" performance was the highlight of the city's Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations. On 8 September, '' BBC North West Tonight'', a regional news programme, revealed that plans were afoot to secure La Princesse to stay permanently in Liverpool, and talks had already been held with La Machine. Although the event was free to the public, there has been a shortfall of between £300,000 and £400,000 in funding for the project, exacerbated by the falling exchange rate with the
Euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
, the currency in which the French participants are paid. Artichoke has appealed for donations to help fund the project.


See also

* Sea Odyssey: Giant Spectacular, an event held in Liverpool in 2012 * Memories of August 1914, an event held in Liverpool in 2014 *
Cultural depictions of spiders Throughout history, spiders have been depicted in popular culture, mythology, and symbolism. From Greek mythology to African folklore, the spider has been used to represent a variety of things, and endures into the present day with characters such ...


References


External links


La Machine's webpage on the event
*
Main BBC webpage (portal) about the eventBBC Liverpool 08 portal with many videosBBC video about preparations for the eventBBC webpage about the eventBBC webpage about the event; Friday 5 September the spider wakes upBBC video about the event; Friday 5 September early morningBBC video about the event; Friday 5 September the spider wakes upBBC video about the event; Friday 5 September the spider performs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Princesse Performing arts in the United Kingdom Culture in Liverpool Events in Liverpool Fictional spiders Robotic spiders Robots of France Performances