panda conga line

baby panda!

In addition to Sly, about 4 other people took a photo of me posing with these panda cut outs. Perplexing…

A couple weekends ago we drove to Duryu Park to catch a glimpse of the 1600 Pandas+ art installation at the Daegu Culture and Arts Center. The traveling exhibit — also referred to as a ‘flash mob” — was in Daegu for one day only, and only for five hours. We’re not usually ones to brave the crowds but… pandas…

A brief description from the exhibition website:

1600 PANDAS+ is a collaboration which began in 2008 between WWF-France and artist Paulo Grangeon, who handcrafted 1600 pandas — the number of existing pandas left in the wild — with recycled materials to make papier-mâché sculptures. The title “1600 PANDAS+” refers not only to the increase in the population of wild giant pandas to over 1,800 in the past decade, but also to increased public awareness of wildlife conservation. After ruling nearly 100 exhibitions around the world, the pandas will land in Korea for the first time to promote the city’s creative industry by fostering a sustainable environment where humans and nature can successfully coexist.

It has been uncharacteristically (so we’ve been told) cool and rainy these past couple of weeks. On the day of the exhibit I pulled on a sweater (!) and jeans. Once at the park the sun of course came out and blared down, unforgiving, on us (and the pandas). Five minutes and 1600+ pandas later and we were dripping sweat, scurrying inside the (non air conditioned) Culture and Arts Center for some relief from the heat.

We cooled down in the gift shop, then tried elbowing our way through rows of people taking selfies to see the pandas (and take our own selfies) once more.

DETAILS

1600 Pandas+ Project | There are still a few cities left on the panda surprise tour/flash mob. On July 4th the pandas will return to their starting point in Seoul at Seokchon Lake near Lotte World Mall Garden where they will be on view until the end of July. To adopt a panda (!!!!!), visit the exhibit website and apply by July 1. Funds from the ‘panda adoptions’ are used for WWF conservation and education projects. I am very tempted to adopt one of these critters. Maybe I’ll just apply and see what happens…