engineering

La Machine (production company)

La Machine (production company) is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand La Machine (production company) rather than just read about it. In short: La Machine is a French production company based in Nantes, France, which is famous for La Princesse, a 50-foot mechanical spider constructed in Nantes, France. Background The group was formed by artists, designers, fabricators and technicians in early 1990s and is currently led by François Delarozière, Artistic Director and creator of La Princesse.

Key takeaways

La Machine (production company) belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect La Machine (production company) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of La Machine (production company) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

La Machine is a French production company based in Nantes, France, which is famous for La Princesse, a 50-foot mechanical spider constructed in Nantes, France.

Background The group was formed by artists, designers, fabricators and technicians in early 1990s and is currently led by François Delarozière, Artistic Director and creator of La Princesse. It is known for its theatrical machines, permanent installations, and also its own theatrical productions.

Past productions

1999

Le Manège d'Andrea Le Manège d'Andrea is an art carousel made of steel, wood, and copper. Instead of horses, the merry-go-round has non-traditional animals including a stag beetle, a blowfish, and a sea monster, as well as objects such as an ocean liner and a biplane.

2003

Symphonie Mécanique A classical live performance in collaboration with industrial machines. Scores were composed by Dominique Malan.

Le Grand Répertoire Exhibition of machines created to be shown in public places. Has visited Nantes, Calais, Antwerp, Toulouse, and Marseille, as well as Paris in 2006, where it was seen by over 50,000 people.

2007

Les Machines de l'Île Les Machines de l'Île or Machines of the Isle of Nantes is a gallery containing Le Grand Éléphant, as well as other creations by La Machine, which the public can visit. It is at the edge of the river Loire, in an old shipyard. Other productions are expected to appear there, with Le Carrousel du Monde Marins, a merry-go-round, opened to the public in 2012 but also La Galerie des Machines, a place where new productions are exposed to be tested by the audience.

2008

Le Manège Carré Sénart Le Manège Carré Sénart is a square merry-go-round, which showed off insects and buffalo, and appeared just outside Paris. It is scheduled to visit Madrid in late 2008, and St Petersburg in 2009.

La Princesse A 60-foot mechanical spider named La Princesse was installed in Liverpool in early September 2008, as part of the city's European Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations. It was operated by 12 people controlling the 8 legs and other movements of the spider. It was toured around city landmarks such as St George's Hall and the Albert Dock, and was seen walking down streets and climbing onto the side of a derelict tower block at the end of each performance. The performance was seen by Liverpool residents and tourists estimated at estimated 150,000 over the weekend, despite the poor weather, and attracted worldwide media attention to the city. The show's £1.8 million price tag was criticised by some.

See also Royal de Luxe - a similar French mechanical marionette street theatre company

References

External links La Machine's home page La Machine's webpage on the Liverpool event Liverpool City of European Culture webpage on the event Main BBC webpage (portal) about the event BBC Liverpool 08 portal with many videos Blog post containing videos of La Princesse

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with La Machine (production company)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what La Machine (production company) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to La Machine (production company) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about La Machine (production company) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of La Machine (production company)

In research: La Machine (production company) appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses La Machine (production company) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: La Machine (production company) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Companies based in Pays de la Loire, Culture of Pays de la Loire, Entertainment companies of France, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for La Machine (production company) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study La Machine (production company) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what La Machine (production company) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain La Machine (production company) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is La Machine (production company) in simple terms?

La Machine is a French production company based in Nantes, France, which is famous for La Princesse, a 50-foot mechanical spider constructed in Nantes, France. Background The group was formed by artists, designers, fabricators and technicians in early 1990s and is currently led by François Delarozi…

Why does La Machine (production company) matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study La Machine (production company)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on La Machine (production company).