Not too long ago, we witnessed the adorable ridiculousness that was the world’s largest rubber duck. Now, feast your eyes on “HippopoThames”, a 68-foot-long hippo sculpture that will float along London’s River Thames for the next few weeks.
Created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, the gargantuan hippopotamus is part of Totally Thames, a city-wide arts festival that pays tribute to the great body of water.
According to Hofman, the concept for the “HippopoThames” was partially inspired by the Thames’ storied past.
He says he started by researching the history of the river, and eventually came across studies on hippo evolution that revealed its waters were awash with the large creatures hundreds of thousands of years ago.
The result was an artwork he’s christened with a pun almost as heavy as one of the beasts he’s been studying: “HippopoThames.”
“I wanted to use the hippo to get people out of their homes, away from the Internet and the TV, and to explore London with a new perspective.”
And, much like his past projects, which include similarly larger-than-life exhibits of a rabbit and crow, the grand hippo was also influenced by more common, everyday things.
Like several of Hofman’s other pieces, “HippopoThames” was inspired by everyday objects — in this case a children’s book that the artist’s parents gave him for their grandchild.
“One page had an illustration of a hippo and I saw it and thought that it could work really well. So the installation is something which is partly inspired by a found object,” he says.
If only I had my own massive inflatable turtle or dolphin to cross the Atlantic, I’d totally go and see this for myself.
Below, watch a clip about “HippopoThames”, and, just for kicks, one of my favorite scenes from Big Daddy that’s forever messed up the way I pronounce “hippopotamus.”