“David is a puppet who is 35 feet tall and he’s from Canada.”
And Friday night’s opening ceremonies of ArtPrize 2024 marked his first stunt in the United States – scaling the west face of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel on cables rigged from a railing on the sidewalk 29 stories up to the rooftop where a team of puppeteers manipulated his climb. Art Prize Director of Operations Theresa Anderson is using her background with Circe-du Soleil to bring fresh creativity to Art Prize events.
“One of the things I was tasked with was bringing back the giant “wow” factor to ArtPrize for our community so I reached out to some contacts, and this was the biggest thing I could come up with.”
The 200-pound aluminum puppet named David will stick around through ArtPrize, stationed in a parking lot at 45 Ottawa Avenue.
“You will be able to go visit David and, if you sign up on the website, its free but you can actually go pull his ropes and make him move.”
He’s also scheduled to perform at the ArtPrize closing ceremonies Friday September 27, but Anderson will only give a hint of what he’ll do this time.
“It’s an interactive performance with people, so that will be fun but it’s a little bit of a surprise, yeah.”
Event information and sign-up slots are available on the ArtPrize website.
