This summer a new, unusual sight appeared on the Noorderkade in Alkmaar: a giant polar bear, six metres high, which is looking at the old city centre and loudly pees in the canal in front of him every few minutes. It’s certainly a unique view! This statue (because it is a statue) is part of the Triënnale Alkmaar – The future is now, an exhibition by Kunstuitleen Alkmaar, which brings contemporary visual art to the Noordhollandsch Kanaal. There are art pieces all over the city. One of them, called Motor Home, causes a few seconds of panic to everyone who sees it, before they realise it’s just art.
Coming back to the bear. Why is he so rude and why does he pee in the canal? This bear is meant to express the anger of the other bears affected by global warming. He is behaving in the same way as humans do, not caring about our habitat, just as we seem not to care about his. By depicting an endangered species in such a human way, artist Florentijn Hofman confronts us with the consequences of our actions.
The statue travelled a bit through the country, before coming to Alkmaar. The bear was first at Museum Flehite in Amersfoort, where he had to stop doing his business at night because he was disturbing the residents with the noise. After that, he was in Groningen for a while. Now he is here, a somewhat comical sight that everyone stops and looks at, but some people wonder if he’s not setting a bad example for the already too unruly teenagers 🙂
What do you think about the bear?
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