Visitors to a handful of major European cities have been left scratching their heads over the sight a 20-foot tall white hands. Are they part of a massive continent-wide art project or some sort of viral advertising campaign?
The pairs of hands have shown up in London's Covent Garden, outside the Pompidou in Paris, along major pedestrian routes in Berlin and Zurich, and near a busy intersection in Milan. Based on a video released online, it would seem that hands are likely to appear in short order in Stockholm and Moscow.
The hands have QR codes on them and all seem to be making the same delicate gesture involving bending pointer fingers. They look as though they are taking pictures with giant invisible smartphones.
A video posted to www.thebighands.com shows the giant extremities being fabricated by a fairly large team of artists working in an anonymous looking warehouse.
Given that someone is sponsoring posts on top local blogs like Londonist pointing out how mysterious the hands are -- and they are mysterious --Twitter users guessing that the installations will eventually be unveiled as a marketing gimmick may be right. Even if that does turn out to be the case, it is a very cool bit of viral tomfoolery.