PandaMania!

June 12, 2004 1:40 PM

PandaMania!The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is presenting PandaMania, 150 creatively designed Panda sculptures placed on display throughout Washington DC, May through September 2004. The exhibition will conclude with a public auction with proceeds used for arts grants and arts education programs. Some other public art links (a couple previously mentioned, but worth a second look): LA, the Bronx, Chicago, NY Public Art fund, and Keith Haring, worldwide.
posted by tetsuo (20 comments total)

Driving through DC, my kids would say "there's a bear, there's one, another there", and I had no idea what they were talking about (in DC you keep your eyes on the other drivers). I did eventually realize what they were talking about, and now bearspotting is their favorite pastime as we drive through downtown. The gallery on the site isn't the greatest, so tomorrow we're heading out and I'm going to get pics of my two sons with as many as we can, and will try to get and post all 150 on my site (which I have yet to create).

And don't anyone get clever with the term "bear", I'm talking about my kids here, (when looking for info I Googled "DC bear", and won't go into the results).
posted by tetsuo at 1:47 PM on June 12, 2004

How awful. They misspelled Pandemonium.
confirmed by MeFi Spell Check, which works for me in Moz1.7
posted by wendell at 1:54 PM on June 12, 2004

Funny, that reminds me a lot of Toronto's Moose in the City program.
posted by bobo123 at 1:57 PM on June 12, 2004

There are giant Mickey Mouse sculptures throughout Chicago this summer. A couple of the cows from Cows on Parade are at my local Meijer.
posted by SisterHavana at 1:58 PM on June 12, 2004

Don't forget Seattle's Pigs on Parade. A favorite with the local police.
posted by Kwantsar at 2:22 PM on June 12, 2004

Speaking of public art, James De La Vega was convicted this week on three misdemeanor counts of making graffiti, criminal mischief, and having graffiti instruments.
posted by techgnollogic at 2:40 PM on June 12, 2004

I fucking hate pandas.
posted by Evstar at 3:31 PM on June 12, 2004

I like lesser pandas too.
posted by WolfDaddy at 3:49 PM on June 12, 2004

Belfast, Maine. Cute, in an unbearable sort of way.
posted by JanetLand at 3:51 PM on June 12, 2004

Oh yes. Two years ago it was the "party animals," artsy elephants and donkeys scattered all over the District. Today it's pandas. Some also call them "free urinals for the homeless."
posted by brownpau at 3:55 PM on June 12, 2004

Chicago did it with cows, Seattle did it with pigs, Sydney did it with dogs, and Pittsfield, Massachussetts is currently doing it with sheep.

I should probably rephrase that sentence, but I'm not going to.

My point is that by the time Pittsfield Massachussetts gets hold of an idea, that's probably a sign that the idea has been run completely into the ground. Let all these fiberglass animals go wherever those pan-flute-playing buskers from the Andes finally disappeared to.
posted by ook at 4:40 PM on June 12, 2004

Good post, tetsuo. I've been taking snapshots of them over the last few weeks, whenever I happen upon them downtown. Despite the "been there, done that" factor, they're still somewhat cool.
posted by LinusMines at 5:17 PM on June 12, 2004

Lame. It was cows on parade in New York. I'm sure it will be Elk in Tuscaloosa.

Community/public art shit like this blows.
posted by destro at 6:58 PM on June 12, 2004

Hearts in San Francisco.
Buffalo in Buffalo.
posted by obloquy at 7:59 PM on June 12, 2004

Ahh..the cranky, the jaded..smells like MetaFilter.
posted by tetsuo at 8:20 PM on June 12, 2004

Well, once an idea get's beat to death it's easy to be jaded. What ever happened to originality? Are we a nation of copycats now?
posted by Eekacat at 6:56 AM on June 13, 2004

New Orleans did it with fish in 2000.
posted by djeo at 9:21 AM on June 13, 2004

Jaded doesn't bother me so much, snarkiness does. There's definitely something to be said for originality, but also there's also the facts that
1) to my two and three year-old kids this is totally original, and just plain cool
2) it's nice to see something different than the neoclassical or ugly modern landscape around DC
3) I don't live in all those other cities, only this one, so to me it is somewhat original
and
4) big pandas are way cooler than all those other ones, next I want to see gorillas.
posted by tetsuo at 9:29 AM on June 13, 2004

Party Animals.

On preview: What brownpau said.
posted by fredosan at 6:34 PM on June 13, 2004

Party Animals Vandalized
posted by destro at 7:16 PM on June 13, 2004