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StudioKCA’s plastic whale sounds the alarm in Bruges

Brooklyn-based architect StudioKCA has designed a 12m-high plastic sculpture of a whale for the Bruges Triennial in Belgium.

The polymeric cetacean is made from 4,500kg of plastic waste picked up from beaches along the Hawaiian islands. A video of the construction process can be seen here.

Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang, co-founders of StudioKCA, said they designed the "Skyscraper" sculpture to highlight the threat posed by plastic to marine ecosystems – a threat that was underlined last week by a pilot whale in Thailand that died after ingesting 80 plastic bags.

The aim is to raise awareness of the threat to marine ecosystems posed by plastic waste (StudioKCA)

Klimoski said: "Right now, there is 150 million tons of plastic swimming in the ocean, our oceans, the oceans we share. That is more plastic waste swimming in the ocean than there are whales. So, an opportunity like this to show the type of plastic and the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans is really important."

Image: The whale is taking part in Bruges’ "Liquid Cities" Triennial (StudioKCA)

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