You'll Need a Big Bathtub for this 105ft Rubber Duck!

11 July, 2007

You stand on the pier looking out over the Loire, enjoying the riverside view. Suddenly a giant yellow monstrosity drifts into view, bobbing gently on the current. Is this some kind of horrible nightmare, or perhaps a scene from an avant garde film? No, it’s art! Created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman as part of the “Loire Estuary 2007” contemporary-art exhibition, the enormous “Rubber Duck” is “soft, friendly and suitable for all ages” according to its maker. While that may be so, at 105 feet tall and 85 feet wide the rubber-coated PVC “Duck” will be pretty hard to fit in your bathtub. Launched at the beginning of July, “Rubber Duck” can be seen floating within the area of the outdoor art exhibition through September 1, 2007.

 

(press release)

Mother Duck Prepares for Ducklings' Return

21th August 2007
 

A 2.5-metre tall plastic duck is currently on her way to the English coast of Cornwall. She's looking for her ducklings who are expected to make landfall on the southwest coast of England after a voyage over the great oceans.

In 1992, during a storm on the Pacific Ocean, 29,000 plastic bathtime toys ducks fell over board from a container ship that had left China bound for America. Via the coast of Alaska they reached the Bering Strait in 1995 and, after having withstood the rigours of the Arctic ice, ducks have been observed in the last few years on the eastern American seaboard. Thanks to the little ducks adventurous journey scientists have been able to gather important data about the ocean currents. (Full story here)

The little yellow bath toys are shortly expected to make landfall in Cornwall and other beaches on the southwest coast of England.

Visual artist Marga Houtman from Warns (NL) created the mother duck after reading a newspaper report in 2003 about the journey undertaken by the ducklings. Her gigantic plastic duck has a look in her eye that, while always friendly and searching is at the same time somewhat sad.  Up till now the mother duck has sought in vain for her ducklings in the Dutch waters. The announcement that the plastic ducklings can be expected on the English coast one of these days is the ultimate opportunity for the mother duck to go looking for her babies there.

The expected reunion of the mother duck and her ducklings will be recorded by Marga Houtman in a short documentary made in collaboration with video filmmaker Patrick Gofre. The influence of the wandering plastic ducklings on people and nature will play an important part in the film. For this, questions will be put to scientists of the National Oceanography Centre, the University of Southampton, various beachcombers and holidaymakers.

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