A whale has been beached in Whitehaven.
The whale has appeared at the town’s harbour – but it’s not real.
It is a sculpture by the Belgian art collective Captain Boomer Collective to make a statement about the environment and climate change.
The collective worked with sculptors from Zephyr Wildlife to create the piece, and it is touring the world.
It was most recently in Redcar as part of an event organised by Eden Arts and The Sixty Six.
The collective said: “A life-size, hyperreal statue of a sperm whale beaches on the shores and river banks of the old world… A black giant with jaws wide open, eyeing the sky. A dumb question from the sea to man.
“A riddle from the deep. The beaching of a whale has always been a magical event. Villages trembled and were exhilarated when it happened. This is what we reconstruct. At the same time the beached whale is a gigantic metaphor for the disruption of our ecological system. People feel their bond with nature is disturbed. The game between fiction and reality reinforces this feeling of disturbance.
“There is an important educational dimension to the beaching. Together with real scientists, we supply ample information about sperm whales and why they beach. The audience witnesses a scientific intervention.
“Autopsy, sampling, dissection, etc are acted out in detail. We also show people parasites, teeth and samples of skin and (real) spermaceti oil. The site is often very popular with school classes and children.
“The psychological archetype of the dead big fish leaves no one untouched. It stirs and mobilises a local community. During our beachings, we see an intensive interaction among the crowd. People address each other, speculate and wonder. They offer help and ask for information.”
