Irish Firm Planning Giant LED-Driven Selfie Statues In 21 Cities Around Globe

March 26, 2021 by Dave Haynes

Via Invidis

An Irish company, based in Dublin, is pitching to put 21 giant LED-driven statues in 21 cities around the world, by the end of 2021.

The statues have addressable LED units and support some basic movement, making it possible for the things to feature famous people, but also capture, map and then display giant selfies of the people who pay to see the attraction up close.

“We are seeking,” says The Giant Company on its website, “21 cities to bring the project into 2021. This is an extremely exciting concept for prime city centre sites that include stadiums, new developments, existing and new museums, visitor attractions / resorts, port and dock developments, civic areas including parks and city squares or free airspace on existing buildings.”

The website also says the giant is “A Bespoke Turnkey Attraction Built in 18 Months” – so the 21 sites by year’s end seems kind of impossible, unless the website needs updating and some are underway.

The concept is being developed by Irish entrepreneur Paddy Dunning, who is behind projects like the Dublin Wax Museum. It has financial support from the Irish government.

Each location would cost roughly €15–€20 million to develop and the spreadsheets suggest about €12m in revenue from admission, advertising, events and other sources.

It is a bit reminiscent of the giant selfie head at the Columbus, OH convention center, but outdoors and a full body.

Attractions are a funny business. What excites and thrills some people can make other people shrug. The AV nerd in me would probably want to see how it looks, but the old fart in me struggles to get excited about seeing a giant Beyoncé in some city’s tourist trap zone.

This video describes the project. The music and narrative is a kind of over the top, but then so is the project ;-]

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