Wow, it has been a busy weekend. The highlight of the weekend (which is sad) was that the Rubber Duck Project came to Pittsburgh, PA on Friday and will be here for the entire month.

Pittsburgh was PACKED this weekend when the duck arrived. As I walked the streets downtown, I kept my eyes open for signs and directions. But the crowds of people lead the way to the river instead. As you can see, the duck is quite large (46×49×54 ft) in comparison to its surrounding area. People took over the fence along the river and took over the bridges to see the new attraction.

What is the Rubber Duck Project?

Florentijn Hofman, a dutch artist created several duck sculptures that would entertain the world by a tour named “Spreading joy around the world” established in 2007. The goal was to recall everyone’s childhood memories by displaying the duck in 14 different cities, starting in his own, Amsterdam.

The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn’t discriminate and doesn’t have a political connotation.

How was it made?

The   duck was constructed with over  200 pieces of PVC piping. The opening at the back of the duck so that anyone can perform a body check of the rubber duck. There is also an electric fan in its body so that it can be inflated at any time, regardless of weather conditions.

The sculptures have been on display in Amsterdam, Lommel (Belgium), Osaka, Sydney Harbour, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong and has finally arrived in the US for the first time for the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, which also kicks off the fall gallery crawl.

Here are the dimensions and location of each duck in order of date according to Wikipedia:

 Taoyuan , Taiwan, October,26 2013

 Kaohsiung , Taiwan, September 2013

 Baku, Azerbaijan, September 2013 (12×14×16 metres (39×46×52 ft))

 Beijing, China, September 2013 (14×15×18 metres (46×49×59 ft))

 Pittsburgh, United States, 2013 (14×15×16.5 metres (46×49×54 ft))

 Hong Kong SAR, China, May 2013 (14×15×16.5 metres (46×49×54 ft))*

 Sydney, Australia, January 2013 (13×14×15 metres (43×46×49 ft))

 Hasselt, Belgium, July 2012 (12×14×16 metres (39×46×52 ft))

 Onomichi, Japan, 2012 (10×11×13 metres (33×36×43 ft))

 Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011 (12×14×16 metres (39×46×52 ft))

 Osaka, Japan, December 2010 (10×11×13 metres (33×36×43 ft))

 São Paulo, Brazil, 2008 (12×14×16 metres (39×46×52 ft))

 Saint-Nazaire, France, 2007 (26×20×32 metres (85×66×105 ft))

*The duck on display in Hong Kong, from 1 May to 9 June 2013, deflated on 15 May after losing air. It was re-inflated and was again on exhibition on 20 May.