A Washington DC train station was shut down for a couple hours recently as a bomb squad investigated this “hobo polo bear” standing near a trash can. Turns out, the stuffed animal was part of a collaboration between Greenpeace and prankster artist Mark Jenkins. From an email Mark sent me:
We made a series of human-like homeless polar bears and installed them around DC to get people to think about the issue (of melting arctic ice) with more empathy. it seemed people liked them a lot and took pictures of their kids in front of them, etc. but most were removed pretty quickly by the authorities. the last image is one that was met with ill-fate after being deemed a “suspicious package.” so the whole thing ended up have a touch of irony to it when compared to the actual situation.
“‘Hobo polar bear causes panic in US‘” (National Nine News) Greenpeace project page (greenpeace.org), Mark Jenkins project page (xmarkjenkinsx.com)
Previously on BB:
• Mark Jenkins: Fake ‘living statue’ prank
• Mark Jenkins: cafeteria pranks
• Mark Jenkins: Traffic-Go-Round
• Mark Jenkins: Meter Pops
• Mark Jenkins casts a human head in packing tape
• Mark Jenkins: Tape Babies
• Mark Jenkins: Fake People