12.09.2012

How did that get there?

If you live in or have visited London this week and been past Selfridges in Oxford Street you will have seen the four metre high statue of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to mark the second phase of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama collaboration in Selfridges' Concept Store.
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The statue of Yayoi Kusama in front of the store's famous clock and queen of time

The store has also dedicated all 24 of its shop windows to the artist, has exchanged its famed, yellow, branded rooftop flags for those covered with the artist's signature polka dots and - by night – it will be lit up in white and red lights.

The 500kg statue suddenly appeared overnight but involved some quick co-ordination between cranes and aerial lifts.
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The crane lifts the 500kg statue into position

The crane used was a 2.9 tonne capacity Unic URW-376 spider crane rented from Unic master distributor GGR, while the scissor lift was a large decked Skyjack SJ8841 rented from Charles Wilson.

The crane arrived long after the London crowds had gone and lifted the sculpture to a height of 10.5 metres, placing it in front of the store’s famed clock and historic stone Queen of Time statue. The scissor lift was used to access the canopy and take all the packaging material down once the statue was firmly in place.
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The job complete the scissor lift removes the rubbish

Next morning early commuters were confronted with the new store frontage.