Whale sculpture arrives in Whitehaven as part of environment and climate change 'statement'

A whale sculpture has 'washed up' on a beach in Whitehaven Harbour.

The whale, a part of Eden Arts 66 project, is a so-called cultural intervention designed to bring new and exciting work to the region.

The sculpture has been created by Belgian art collective Captain Boomer Collective who hope to make a statement about the environment and climate change.

The creature takes the form of a sperm whale with scientific experiments being 'carried out' to establish what has happened to it.

It has been placed there to see how communities react.

The whale will be in Whitehaven Harbour from 26-28 May.

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."

The sculpture was in Redcar, in the North East, earlier this week.

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