Unless you were living under a rock in 2013 (or not on social media, that is, living under a rock), you remember the proverbial waves that formed when a 54-foot rubber duck (officially known as a “duck “Rubber”) appeared near the Tsim Sha Tsui Pier in Hong Kong Harbor. The rise of this story to “trending” status was rapid, but so was the way interest in the yellow creature waned. If you’ve been curious about what happened to Rubber Duck, and what’s to come for him in the future, read on.
History and debut in Hong Kong
If you know anything about the artist who created Rubber Duck, the Dutch Florentijn Hofman, neither the scale of the Rubber Duck nor his strategy to deploy it will surprise you. At the time of the duck’s debut in Hong Kong, Hofman had installed a huge crow in a museum courtyard in his native Rotterdam, as well as several colorful ‘paper boats’ (not made of paper) in the center of the city. town. same city. Hofman would later install a giant hippopotamus (adorably called ‘HippopoThames’) in London’s River Thames in 2014.
An explosive trip around the world
Before leaving Hong Kong Harbor, Rubber Duck shocked the world when he deflated one day, leaving behind a flattened version of himself, like a sad blob of bright yellow oil floating on the surface of the water. The second time something like this happened, however, it was more explosive: On January 1, 2014, while docked in Keelung, Taiwan, the Duck opened up to the horror of viewers and media representatives alike.
Of course, if you know anything about the history of Rubber Duck, you will realize that the poor thing has a penchant for deflating, or deflating, so to speak. In 2009, before RD’s international fame, Hofman established a relatively low-key facility in Belgium. He was stabbed 42 times by a local in some kind of rubber duck assassination plot.
The good news is that there are multiple versions of Rubber Duck, which have appeared in cities around the world despite mishaps in Taipei, Hong Kong and Belgium. Since then, Rubber Duck has appeared in coastal cities like Osaka, Sydney, and Amsterdam, and also visited New York last year.
The future of the rubber duck
Threats looming on the horizon or not, it looks like Rubber Duck (or, at least, the Rubber Duck versions) will be traveling the world for the foreseeable future, and not just to coastal destinations, although I must keep in mind that Rubber Duck It has previously “docked” in inland cities such as Beijing and São Paulo.
