A giant pigeon “landed” on the grass beside London’s City Hall this morning. The life-like sculpture, which was specially commissioned to mark the UK launch of Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-ZX1 compact camera with an 8x optical zoom, graphically brought to life one of London’s most iconic and hotly debated creatures, Panasonic says. A team of five artists spent two months constructing the 1.52 metre high and 3.2 metre wide fibre glass structure which was lifted into place in Potters Fields, central London at 8am before moving further along the banks of the Thames for a national photo call in front of The Houses of Parliament. The giant pigeon is one of a series of objects which have been magnified and brought to life by Panasonic to illustrate the 8x optical zoom lens of the new, ultra-compact Lumix DMC-ZX1. Users are invited to submit their own photographs which showcase the fun that can be had with perspective for their chance to win a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games by visiting the website below.

Website: Panasonic 8xLife

Panasonic Press Release

GIANT PIGEON LANDS IN LONDON!

BORIS GETS LARGER THAN LIFE BIRDS EYE VIEW AT CITY HALL

London, 9th November 2009: A giant pigeon landed on the grass beside City Hall this morning, providing Mayor of London Boris Johnson with a larger than life view of one of the infamous birds, which he continues to try and banish from Trafalgar Square.

The life-like sculpture, which was specially commissioned to mark the launch of Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-ZX1compact camerawith an 8x optical zoom, graphically brought to life one of London’s most iconic and hotly debated creatures.

A team of five artists spent two months constructing the 1.52 metre high and 3.2 metre wide fibre glass structure which was lifted into place in Potters Fields, central London at 8am before moving further along the banks of the Thames for a national photo call in front of The Houses of Parliament. The sculpture which weighs 200kg will now spend the next two weeks in Neal Street, Covent Garden.

The plight of the pigeon has been a source of controversy since the former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone introduced a byelaw to ban the feeding of birds on the north terrace of Trafalgar Square in 2007. It has been illegal to feed pigeons in the main square since 2003. They have since been kept away from the area in large numbers through the use of hawks at an annual cost to the taxpayer of £60,000.

The giant pigeon is one of a series of objects which have been magnified and brought to life by Panasonic to illustrate the powerful 8x optical zoom lens of the new super compact camera the Lumix DMC-ZX1. Further installations include a giant conker, postbox, traffic cone, park bench and crumpled coffee cup. The sculptures are now in position in high profile locations in the respective cities of Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol for the next two weeks.

Mark Robinson Head of Lumix Marketing at Panasonic says: “We are looking forward to seeing how people interact with the larger than life installations and we hope everyone has a bit of fun as well. Taking everyday objects and magnifying them highlights the impressive results that are possible thanks to our ultra wide angle lens and super zoom compact camera, the Lumix ZX1”.

Users are invited to submit their own photographs which showcase the fun that can be had with perspective for their chance to win a trip to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games by visiting facebook.com/8xlife.

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