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Giant Animatronic Jenny Lind

Giant Animatronic Jenny Lind (Gone)

Field review by the editors.

Asheville, North Carolina

Jenny Lind, "the Swedish Nightingale," was a 19th century opera singer and early U.S. media sensation -- so famous in the USA that a New England clipper ship was named "Nightingale" and given a Jenny Lind figurehead for its prow. The Nightingale had a brief, ignominious career as Slave Ship, and that inspired Asheville artist Mel Chin to oversee construction of a full-size replica of the wooden figurehead in 2017-18, which he titled "When Will We Wake."

Jenny is 60 feet long, 34 feet wide, and 24 feet tall, and has arms that move and a neck that pivots -- although it's unclear how long she'll be able to do so out in the weather. In his artist's statement, Chen said that the artwork "evokes the hull of a shipwreck crossed with the skeletal remains of a marine mammal" and that it's meant to make visitors think about "displacement."

Giant Animatronic Jenny Lind

Directions:
On the south side of the city, one block west of US-25/Southside Ave., at the corner of Collier and Millard Aves.
Status:
Gone

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