Gigantic Lady Teaching Germans the 'Art of Bathing'
In Hamburg, Germany, the British beauty products company Soap & Glory has installed Die Badende: a 13-foot high, 67-foot long sculpture of a bathing lady in the waters of Alster Lake. The company did this out of a sense of duty, it seems.
"[W]e've been looking for a way to say, 'Thank you!' to everyone for embracing our products, and making us a real success there," says company founder Marcia Kilgore. "At Soap & Glory, we consider it our calling to bring more beauty to the world, and have fun doing it." A calling.
Designed by Oliver Voss—who's described here as an "art creator," which is somehow different from an "artist," maybe because he heads up an advertising school?—Die Sculpture's made out of steel, styrofoam, and vision, and weighs more than two tons. Her purpose in life is to "promote the 'art' of bathing" to the citizens of Hamburg—whose adherence to standard rules of personal hygiene has always seemed pretty intact, but maybe living in the capital of unruly Facebook parties has distracted them from their showering schedule? At the very least, Die Badende's supposedly been good for the local paddleboating industry.
Not every Hamburger in Hamburg's fallen in love with the two-ton lady. Mayor Markus Schreiber, for one, says she's "sullying the beloved lake." He doesn't explain how, though, so let's dismiss his opinion outright. Schreiber won't have to look at the sullying lady much longer; on August 12 she'll be lifted from the lake and then eventually make her way to some other place where the locals need companies to help them identify the transcendental aspects of normal everyday activities. Maybe Tulsa?
