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Only in France would you see an art exhibit featuring a mouse floating face up down a river as a means of informing people about the risks of flood. The mouse almost looks like it is having fun, although I would imagine that the sight of a mouse floating face up in a river could conjure up some historical images in France, be it the plague or "Black Death." But what do I know about art, or evoking images to awaken people to the dangers of floods.
French architect Jacques Rival lended his vision and artistic ability to this "happening" aimed at warning people about the risk of floods. Good for Jacques and those behind this exhibit, I guess.
Maybe I'm just a little jealous that we haven't tried anything similar here in the U.S., for better or worse. I don't immediately think flooding when I see an inflatable mouse floating in a river, and maybe that's a good thing. I have heard horror stories of how dirty Paris is, and are other larger cities in France, sad in comparison to how beautiful the country is as a whole. I can only wonder that if maybe we had tried to evoke some artistic response to maybe one of our own beloved mice floating down the Mississippi River, maybe people would have been warned of the dangers of flooding in New Orleans and the surrounding towns. Imagine seeing Mickey Mouse from the infamous SteamBoat Willie cartoon, large and inflated and floating down the river. He would probably need to be floating face down for it to make sense, or maybe face up with x's for eyes. I don't like where this is going, maybe I should just end this by saying that the mouse didn't make me think of floods, but did make me think of Ratatouille. Go figure!