In the coming weeks, the GaiaZOO zoo will be working hard on the sand sculpture festival ‘ZOO van ZAND’. The first work of art, a group of savanna animals four meters high and behind meters long, has now been completed.
No less than sixty tons of river sand from Limburg was used for this first creation. The zoo wants to have a total of ten statues built in the park during the festival, reports SE-NWS†
Education and research
“What we find important as a zoo, we are not only there for recreation, but also for education, research and conservation. Through these ten sculptures we want to show that animal species in the wild are threatened with extinction,” said a spokesperson for GaiaZOO.
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Mother Earth
A total of nine artists, from the Netherlands and Canada, are working on the various sand sculptures. One of them is Johannes Hogebrink, he is working on an image about ‘Mother Earth’. She lies pregnant on the floor and looks quite worried: “I think the expression is right, she looks angry and worried. That is necessary, because Mother Earth is not doing well and you should take care of it. about it,” says the sand artist.
The opening of the festival will take place in June and until then visitors can see how the statues are made. The creations are dismantled again in the autumn.