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Press Office: Press Releases

2009 | Tate Modern

Jeff Koons’s giant rabbit balloon arrives in Covent Garden for Pop Life: Art in a Material World at Tate Modern

 

Tate Modern  Level 4 West
Thursday 1 October 2009 – Sunday 17 January 2010
Admission £12.50 (   concessions)
Opening hours: Sunday to Thursday, 10.00–18.00. Friday and Saturday, 10.00–22.00. Last admission into exhibitions 17.15 (Friday and Saturday 21.15).
Public information number: 020 7887 8888.
Public information URL: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/poplife/default.shtm

Press release: 8 October 2009

To celebrate the opening of Tate Modern’s major autumn exhibition Pop Life: Art in a Material World, a giant 53 foot (16 metre) helium balloon by Jeff Koons will go on display at Covent Garden, London, from 8-11 October. It will be the first time that Koons’s Rabbit balloon will be shown in the UK and its residency in the Market Building marks a new relationship between Covent Garden and Tate Modern.
Modelled on Jeff Koons’s iconic metre-high stainless steel sculpture Rabbit 1986, Koons created the large-scale silver balloon for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2007 in New York. The silver rabbit was floated down the streets of Broadway through the crowds to celebrate the occasion. Both the original sculpture and a film of the balloon in Macy’s Day Parade will be included in Pop Life: Art in a Material World.
Jeff Koons started creating sculptures using inflatable toys in the 1970s. Taking a readymade inflatable rabbit Koons cast the object in stainless steel, playing on the tension between weight, material, and transcendence, merging high and low culture. Koons's work draws on a variety of sources often taken from consumer culture.
Rabbit will be shown in the South Hall, Market Building, Covent Garden, London. Pop Life: Art in a Material World will be on display at Tate Modern from 1 October – 17 January 2010.

For further information contact Daisy Mallabar/Selina Jones, Tate Press Office, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG Call 020 7887 8731/4906 Fax 020 7887 8729, Email pressoffice@tate.org.uk

Notes to Editors

Covent Garden continues to show commitment to art and design by promoting the most diverse, alternative and exciting cultural events. With over 43 million visitors to the area a year, Covent Garden supports greater public interaction in arts and culture through its partnerships with cultural institutions.
Bev Churchill, Brand Director of Covent Garden commented: ‘We are big fans of Koons’s work, so we are delighted to be hosting one of his most recognisable pieces on its inaugural visit to the UK. The Market Building is the perfect home for its short stay in London and the scale of the balloon fits perfectly.’