In the heart of Hobart, Tasmania, a towering seven-meter teddy bear stands in the middle of Harrington Lane. The bear, lovingly titled Giant Teddy, is the creation of Korean-Australian artist EJ Son and is part of this year’s Dark Mofo festival. With its imposing size, Giant Teddy resembles the kaiju monsters from Japanese media, and its blank and menacing stare, flanked by graffiti and shrouded by darkness, exudes a sense of utter contempt. What’s more, it has no mouth – but if it did, it would probably be shouting, “I will destroy you all!”
Giant Teddy is more than just a giant toy. Embedded in its nose is a camera that captures live footage of the festival revelers, which is streamed to a nearby TV screen and posted on the festival’s website. It’s always watching, as if waiting for the perfect moment to strike. “Teddy has lasers shooting out of its eyes too,” EJ Son says with a laugh. “If you’re hit in the eyes with this laser, you will be blind. It’s so extreme!” (Don’t worry, a technician on site will ensure no one is blinded.)
So why did Son choose a teddy bear as the subject of this monstrous creation, rather than a panda or a horse? The answer is simple: “There just so happened to be a teddy from a Valentine’s many years ago lying around,” Son reveals. “It intrigued me as a universal childhood reference that also contained an undercurrent of peril. Bears are actually really dangerous and very brutal. By making them cute, we make them non-threatening. It’s like that for me, because someone would see me and they would never find me threatening.”
Giant Teddy is not the only toy-inspired art installation at Dark Mofo this year. Jason Phu’s opera, Without Us You Would Have Never Learnt About Love, features a chorus of repurposed figurines and stuffed animals, including multiple Duracell bunnies, Winnie the Pooh and friends, and makeshift companions constructed from cardboard and Mi Goreng packets. Their eerie performance is a shrine to childhood nostalgia and a powerful reminder of the way toys can change the way we interact with the world.
For EJ Son, Giant Teddy is a symbol of our innate desire to be nurtured and embraced by a bigger entity. “I’ve been thinking a lot about how we all just want to be babies, and how we all want to be nurtured and embraced by a bigger entity… As an adult, it’s really hard to feel that way. I just really want to be embraced by a huge teddy!”
If you’re in Hobart and brave enough to face Giant Teddy’s menacing stare, be sure to check out this incredible work of art during the Dark Mofo festival.
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