Never seen in Paris. This Friday morning, a strange surprise awaited the passers-by on the banks of the Seine. A 20-meter-long sperm whale was discovered on the Quai de la Tournelle, near the Notre-Dame Cathedral. The cetacean, which weighs a little over thirty tons, would be a male of about twenty years. The animal feels strong salt water and drops of blood still flow along its jaw.
"Intrigued, I approached and I found that Belgian specialists dressed in white coats were examining the beast. They explained to me that the whale had surely died that night of exhaustion, by dint of swimming. The scientists added that the phenomenon could happen again since there is a group of several sperm whales in the Seine, "says a passer-by to the journalist.
A security perimeter was set up, to keep the curious at a distance and allow the experts to examine the corpse. Amazed, Parisians and tourists take pictures and videos of the failed cetacean, not suspecting for a moment that it is ... a sudden rise.
The cachalot, despite its impressive realism, is a plastic work of art realized by a Belgian collective: Captain Boomer. Founded in 2007, the group of environmental artists is not in its first hoax. In France, the committee had already created a stir last year in Rennes. They have also experimented throughout Europe, notably in London, Scheveningen (the Netherlands), Valencia (Spain) and several Belgian cities such as Ostend and Antwerp.
"Our goal is to play with the boundaries between fiction and reality, to intrigue people, to make them astonish, to speak ... It's an artistic way of making people aware of the environment," says Bart Van Peel , Founder of Captain Boomer. These hyperrealist sculptures are like an immense metaphor for the dysfunction of our ecological system. People feel that their connection to nature is disrupted ".
The choice of Paris is no coincidence. "Paris is a symbolic city. We could not do it this year: it is at the same time the heart of Europe, an important cultural center but also, and above all, the most invested capital on environmental and ecological issues, "he adds.
The work of art will be visible for another three days on the Quai de la Tournelle before returning to another European city. In any case, members of the Belgian collective can rub their hands: their artistic deception worked well beyond their expectations.