Pink Floyd Pigs to Take On Trump Tower

This will surely catch the attention of the "big man, pig man"

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished May 8, 2017

George Orwell's 1946 novella Animal Farm was reimagined by prog titans Pink Floyd in 1977 for their Animals LP. As political events these last few months have made the messages within these artistic works unnervingly relevant again, an architect has devised a plan to obscure Donald Trump-branded buildings with flying gold pigs.

New World Design's Jeffrey Roberts announced his plans for "Flying Pigs on Parade" last November. The piece would see four of the 30-by-15-foot pig balloons flown from a barge on the Chicago River, obscuring the giant lettering on the front of Chicago's Trump Tower.

Speaking to Architectural Digest [via NME], Roberts admitted that the work's "references are many, from flying pigs and Miss Piggy comments to a taste for gold embellished interiors," while adding that the four pigs are named Old Major, Napoleon, Squealer and Minimus.

"The art folly has been created to provide visual relief to the citizens of Chicago by interrupting the view of the ostentatious Trump Tower Chicago sign," he said. "The design follows rigorous rationale in providing layers of meaning but ultimately allows for interpretation by individual viewers."

Ex-Floyd member and songwriter Roger Waters, who owns the rights to the iconic Animals cover image, signed off on the plans to make the installation a reality. Roberts adds that he and his team intend to deploy the "folly" in other cities, and though a date for Chicago's exhibition has yet to be determined, the architect says he is "negotiating a float date in late summer."

Meanwhile, Waters's new solo album Is This the Life We Really Want? is set to arrive on June 2 through Columbia.

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