3D: Dynamic, diverse, and dramatic. Or rather dull, dying, and dreadful?
No, I’m not going to talk about major attributes of campaign for European Parliament Elections; I guess it’s impossible to capture the essence in three words (not to mention all of them beginning with the letter “d”). I’m going to talk about THE INVASION OF MUTANT ZOMBIE CHICKENS!!!
OK, no more tabloid language… These are the chickens interesting enough to be protagonists of my post:
(And their English postcard version:)
These two Gallus gallus domesticus (i.e. chickens) had come to Trnava (quite important western-Slovak town with approx. 66 000 inhabitants) on April 27, 2009. I witnessed their existence eight days later—and they fascinated me enough to go home and come back with a camera.
So, what are the main pros and cons of having this oversize European poultry in our town?
Pros (+): 1. Livening up the pedestrian area and bringing a little excitement and change into our everyday lives and everyday routes.
2. Representing and promoting the town, as blue and yellow are its official colours, present in all the town and region symbols.
3. Improving people’s lifestyles by encouraging them by its looks to eat less meat or even become vegetarians.
Cons (-): 1. This modern art doesn’t match its surrounding, as the town centre is made up by mostly historic buildings and a few pieces of communist architecture.
2. It might scare small children.
3. It might scare older children, getting back home drunk at night.
And now the only main and the only serious pro: it works. As it is three-dimensional, big, and unusual, it catches people’s attention. It intrigues. It makes people think about it and about what it represents and why it is there. And that is really good.
To illustrate my point, here’s a part of a conversation of a young Slovak couple I’ve overheard while taking photos:
She: “Jeez, what is that? Is that alive??”
He: “It is a part of a campaign.”
She: “What campaign?”
He: “For European Elections. You can elect members of parliament. European Parliament.”
She: “I can? Are you kiddin’? And when?”
If there are any other people who have experience with these new temporary inhabitants of a few European towns and cities (I mean chickens, not the couple), please, let us know.
(By the way, I’m really curious about what the chickens are made of; does anyone here have an idea? I didn’t dare to examine the question when I was there, people gave me strange looks just while I was taking photos, climbing up there and touching the big dead chickens would disqualify me from any social life and normal existence on public in my hometown…)
(11 votes, average: 4.27 out of 5)
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Hi !
I like those chicken too. And so does Barbara here:
http://www.ep-webeditors.eu/2009/04/a-bilingual-chicken-a-naked-chicken/
Some secrets of their production can be watched here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJlNIuAqoII&feature=channel_page
And more photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament
Have a nice day,
Tibo
Hi, Radovana!
A great discovery!
But you are a blogger now! It is your duty to disqualify yourself from social life and a normal existence in your hometown.
You must be as curious as possible, and try to satisfy that curiosity - even if it means strange behaviour in public (ESPECIALLY if it means strange behaviour in public!)
You should return to the chickens and stand next to them, interviewing all people who walk past. Ask them if they know what the chickens mean and if they think the sculpture is effective.
And try to steal some of the chicken! Maybe take it home and cook it. Write a review!
Perhaps that’s going to far…
I just remember how long time did it take for EPIO Riga to agree on how the text on the chickens (abt their ingrediants) should be translated in Latvian… Not easy work at all!
Josef: Thanks for explaining me how being a blogger would affect my life!
I still don’t know what the chickens are made of, though I have already conducted an audio-visual examination (without touching the chickens, I’m not the kind of touchy-feely person
). But I guess at least the surface is made of paper, judging by the structure of the material and the fact that it did not react on sound.
But, just for you, I have made one chickens-related miniinterview while sitting on a train to Trnava, with a woman in her forties and her daughter. They described the chickens as “…interesting and funny. Yeah, funny. Just funny.”. And they are both going to vote, because they always vote.
Hehe, thank you Radovana! I am satisfied now!