Client: City of Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Overview

Created for Taiwan’s largest port city, Kaohsiung (the sixth largest in the world) – 15 tons of recycled plastic waste, collected through the efforts of the citizens of Kaohsiung and turned into a 7-story tall whale breaching from the historic Love River as a symbol of the country’s desire to call attention to the plastic waste entering our oceans and waterways, and their commitment to clean water and plastic reduction and recycling.

Goals

Working with the city of Kaohsiung, StudioKCA and a team of local engineers, fabricators, and volunteers set about turning 15 tons of collected plastic pulled from oceans and waterways by local groups into the largest environmental sculpture ever created in Taiwan, the 7 story tall, 1:1 scale whale called “Whale in Love”.

Scientists estimate there are 150 million tons of plastic waste in the ocean right now, with an estimated 8 million tons added every year. That means, pound for pound, there is more plastic waste from our cities swimming in the ocean than there are whales. Ultimately, the goal behind designing and constructing "Whale in Love" was to allow visitors to stand beneath a life-sized whale and visualize the enormity of plastic waste entering our waterways every day, and understand how we must all work together to protect our shared natural resources.