Art, as well as appealing to the aesthetic senses, can also have some utilitarian value.
A Dutch metro train travelled past the end of the line on an elevated section at the De Akkers station in Spijkenisse, just outside Rotterdam. Instead of plunging to the ground, the train came to rest in the tail of a whale, a massive sculpture by Maarten Struijs, ironically and presciently entitled “Saved by the Whale”.
The artist expressed surprise that the twenty-year old statue, made of plastic, had withstood the weight of the train.
The train was removed using cranes, but the statue will remain in situ, doubling as an impromptu set of buffers.
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