Roger Waters Approves ‘Animals’-Inspired Anti-Trump Art Installation in Chicago
In an attempt to visually reject the gaudy emblazoned letters of Chicago’s Trump Tower, and relieve residents of all its political reminders, a local architect is at work on a Pink Floyd-inspired solution.
Architect Jeffrey Roberts first proposed the four giant, flying, gold-colored helium-filled pigs in November 2016. He plans to strategically place the pigs to block the Trump sign from view. “Flying Pigs on Parade,” as he has called it, is planned to debut this summer as a one-day art installation, though he is still seeking city approval and fundraising for the project, according to the project's website.
The pigs, Roberts said, were inspired by Pink Floyd’s famous 40-foot helium-filled balloon at Battersea Power Station, which Roger Waters designed for the Animals cover shoot.
Waters holds the rights to the image, and approved Roberts’ project, which also takes inspiration from a number of other sources.
“In 1977 Pink Floyd rendered their musical interpretation of the allegory into the concept album Animals in response to social-political conditions in late-'70s Britain,” Roberts writes on the project’s website. “Like [George] Orwell’s book, the interpretive messages of Animals have unfortunately become highly relevant again.
"The references are many, from flying pigs and Miss Piggy comments to a taste for gold-embellished interiors," he continues. "Ultimately, this is a very rational design and is in direct contrast to the chaotic nature and bizarre antics of our current leadership."
Each of the pig balloons will measure 30 feet by 15 feet, and will be tethered to a barge in the Chicago River, according to Architectural Digest. Following the Chicago installation, Roberts plans to tour them to other cities around the country.
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