Giant Rubber Duck Vanishes in Chinese Flood
Hendrik Hansson
Florentijn Hofman, Rubber Duck (2011),
Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: courtesy the artist.
A giant rubber duck designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman has disappeared amid heavy storms in China’s southwestern Guiyang City, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 54-foot-tall, 2000 pound inflatable artwork was perched upon a floating metal platform, tethered to the bottom of the Nanming river by steel wires.
The work has toured the world since 2007 and has been on display in the Netherlands, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan and Australia, drawing millions of spectators along the way. The sculpture’s tour, entitled Spreading Joy Around the World represents the union of people, according to the artist. “We’re one family and all the waters in the world is our global bathtub,” Hofman previously told the Guardian.