If you happen to be in London before the end of September and you happen to see a gigantic hippopotamus in the river while walking along the banks of the Thames, don't worry: you're not crazy. HippoThames is a completely harmless wooden art installation by the Dutch Florentijn Hofman.
The 21 meter tall wooden hippopotamus in the River Thames in London is located on the south bank of the river in the Nine Elms area of central London. Of course, nobody builds a big hippopotamus for no reason – it's there because it's happening in London for the whole month of September a new festival Totally Thames, during which many musical, cultural and other events will take place along the river bank.
Dutch artist Florentijn Hofmann thus, as part of the festival, he placed a fun hippopotamus on an old small ship, which makes it seem as if it is floating on the surface of the river. His inspiration was (how unexpectedly) hippos - but the real ones that actually swam in the London River in prehistoric times.
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A hippopotamus with a name HippoThames it is completely in the style of this artist, who likes to surprise with bulky animals in completely everyday locations. Thus, in Hong Kong, a bulky rubber duck was already swimming on the river, a wooden rabbit was sunbathing in a Russian park, and snails from plastic bags of incredible dimensions were crawling on the narrow streets of France. All his works of art, however, have the same purpose: surprise people, take them out of their daily routine and be the subject of conversation among them.
HippoThames will be swimming in the Thames until September 28, and in the short video below, see how it was created.
See more photos of the giant hippo swimming in the Thames in our gallery.
