Floating Fish
Floating Fish is Florentijn Hofman's latest work.
This installation was made site-specific for Art Wuzhen.
The 15-meter-long, 7-meter-high Floating Fish is set on water at an old amphitheater in the West Scenic District in Wuzhen, China. This water theater is a very heterotopian place, which fits the title for this exhibition (Utopia/Heterotopia) very well.
Hofman was inspired by the site when he visited the location end of 2015 which looks like a kind of sea-world with only missing, a dolphin or a killer whale that could emerge from the water any minute. Also in the old watertown which functions as one of the tourist attractions Hofman saw people feeding koi fish in a large pond and was triggered by sculpted reliefs of fishes on the wall.
Hofman's work relates often with local material or products, in this work he also worked with Chinese elements.
The skin of the fish is made of kickboards, the kind children use in swimming pools and are made in China.
The kick boards not only refer to fish scales but also to the Chinese legend of the fish that followed the Yellow River and turned into a dragon.
The Fish has a great significance in Chinese culture, it brings happiness and wealth, and it’s a kind of utopian idea, the wish of having and happiness and wealth.