Beached whale in Greenwich is Belgian art stunt

A whale found beached on the shores of Greenwich has turned out to be a stunt from a Belgian arts collective, reports the Evening Standard’s Louise Jury. However they won’t be getting a visit from Greenpeace any day soon as the whale is made from fibreglass. The 17-metre specimen is an installation with a glass fibre frame designed to draw attention to London’s history as a centre of the whaling industry. It is the work of Captain Boomer, a collective of Belgian artists which made the specimen to launch the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival this weekend. The whale, attended by a cast of scientists and rescue teams will be beached near the Cutty Sark from 1pm to 5pm today. It will then be moved by crane to the lawns of the Royal Naval College for the weekend, where it will be part of a weekend of free outdoor performances and events. Performers will appear to conduct scientific investigations while experts from the British Divers Marine Association will explain what would happen if another whale turned up for real. According to organisers: ‘The beaching captures our fascination and long relationship with the “otherness” of the sea. ‘In the 18th Century Greenwich was the centre of the London whaling industry. ‘A base for whaling fleets, the street lamps and houses were lit by whale oil, the cables for whaling were made in Greenwich and whale oil was used in the local wool industry. ‘In 2010 the skeleton of a 12m whale was uncovered after 200 years under the river mud at Greenwich.’ Thousands of people came to the Thames in 2006 when a female bottlenose got lost and eventually died during a rescue attempt.