Mystery of the deflated Rubber Duck: were cigarette butts to blame?
Now Chinese mainland tourists are blamed for the demise of Rubber Duck: rumours circulate that cigarette butts turned art installation into an omlette
Rubber Duck, a creation of Dutch conceptual artist Florentijin Hofman, was for weeks the talk of the town, drawing throngs of visitors, local and mainland Chinese alike and tourists from around the world. The duck exhibition was supposed to end June 9.
“There have been rumours that Hong Kong’s big yellow duck was ‘burned to death’ by tourists from Shenyang, which had thrown 30 lit cigarette butts at it. Today Hong Kong has confirmed that damage was not man-made. Organisers are just doing a routine physical examination.”
“Fowl” play was quickly ruled out by Harbour City management, the duck’s host. Wind and strong waves had supposedly caused the duck to deflate and collapse. It was merely taking a duck nap as it conveyed in its tweet “sleepy time” on Tuesday.