Spain: The Giant is Alive

Already more than five years ago, the stunning giant appeared “on the horizon” of the leisure and edutainment industry, when the Dublin-based The Giant Company presented its newly developed and enormously impressive concept of the giant for the first time (cf. EAP issue 4/2016). Now, the technologically and artistically innovative visitor attraction concept will be officially unveiled at IAAPA Expo Europe (IEE), which is taking place in Barcelona from 28-30 September 2021. “The Giant” will be over 10 stories high and the tallest moving statue in the world. Its outer surface is made up of millions of LED pixels that are programmed to instantly transform into any visual image. A technological first, The Giant also features, among other things, a customised scanning system that scans visitors and can map their images onto The Giant’s outer shell – on its skin, so to speak.

Until now, The Giant was only theoretically feasible, but now the design team of The Giant has provided proof of its concept in the form of a state-of-the-art prototype, a four-metre tall anthropomorphic giant head together with the aforementioned scanning system. The Giant’s patented LED and scanning technology will be presented to IEE trade visitors for the first time in Barcelona. Following this presentation, the Giant Head will “travel” to Dubai, where it will also be presented to a broad public and interested investors who want to develop the first Giant Head there. From Dubai, the Giant prototype’s journey will then continue to Naples, Italy, and the USA.

The Giant Company is led by award-winning entrepreneur Paddy Dunning, who has assembled an international design team with whom he hopes to make the project a success. This includes Berlin-based architecture firm dan pearlman, Austria-based audio-visual developers Kraftwerk, Istanbul-based LED company Ledeca and many other Irish designers and creatives. “We are now seeking 21 sites in 21 cities around the world. The Giant will be one of the world’s most ambitious cultural and commercial projects bringing together art, amusement and wonder to create a contemporary and highly profitable business,” Paddy Dunning explains the ambitious project. “We envision The Giant as an adjunct to new urban redevelopment projects, stadiums, arenas, shopping centers, museums and other locations; it’s going to be an awe-inspiring addition to the cities where we locate it […], because there’s nothing like it on the planet,” Dunning says with confidence. (eap)