At first glance, it looks like Beijing is being swallowed up by rising tides. But these aren’t giant bottomless puddles—they’re mirrors, installed throughout Beijing by the Chinese wing of advertising agency Grey Group. The point? To draw attention to the country’s rapidly-disappearing lakes.
Pollution and climate change have caused more than 240 lakes to vanish across China in the last 40 years. In fact, the formerly water-plentiful province of Hubei was once called the Province of 1,000 Lakes. Now it only has 26. The Grey Group placed giant water-like mirrors in squares around Beijing to raise awareness of the sad phenomenon. The largest curving structure was 65 feet long and 33 feet wide—huge enough to really grab your attention.
Frankly, the message needed to be sent in a creative way, because not only are a large portion of Beijingers completely unaware of the issue, but according to Grey, many of them have never even seen a lake before. But this installation shows that they are beautiful bodies of water, meant to be appreciated. And thanks to their placement in Beijing’s busiest neighborhoods, they were seen by more than 3.5 million people. [DesignBoom]
Image credit: weijun lin
