Tel Aviv's 100th Anniversary: is it everything it's quacked up to be?

A giant yellow duck was inflated yesterday on the rooftop of the Tel Aviv's city hall in Rabin Square.

The event was the realization of a vision dreamed up a few years ago by the late Israeli artist and illustrator Dudu Geva.

The piece will be in place for one month in honor Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary.

DUCKIZATION OF TEL AVIV

Geva, famous for his duck drawings, came up with the idea of the "duckization of Tel Aviv" - decorating the city with huge sculptures of ducks and other animals in an attempt to spice up the streets of Tel Aviv, and make them happier.

Geva, who was born in 1950, published highly popular caricatures, comic strips, and satire columns in Israeli newspapers for three decades. He died unexpectedly in 2005.

"CITY HALL IS A LOST CAUSE ..."

Before his death, Geva had been conducting a tongue in cheek campaign urging Tel Aviv's mayor to liven up the city through weird, wacky and subversive art projects.

One dream was to turn Tel Aviv into a city of ducks - an animal character he used often in his cartoons. Geva insisted that Tel Aviv was in dire need of cheeful decoration.

"City Hall," he said, "is a lost cause. If a giant duck is placed on its roof, everything will be turned upside down. The idea is to bring joy to people's hearts and to make art a part of daily life."