Curse continues! Giant rabbit goes up in flames

Story highlights

Larger-than-life bunny art installation in Taiwan catches fire

Cause of fire unknown, but said to have been accidentally started by workers

Massive bunny was made mostly of Tyvek construction material

It's not first mishap for one of Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's creations

CNN  — 

Dutch installation artist Florentijn Hofman must be feeling cursed right about now.

The man whose giant rubber duck was stabbed 42 times in Belgium, attacked by a suspected eagle in Keelung City, Taiwan, and sunk in Hong Kong has a new disaster to contend with: grilled rabbit.

Hofman’s giant Moon Rabbit, on exhibit at the Taoyuan Land Arts Festival since September 4, was damaged in a fire on Monday, a day after the 11-day festival concluded.

“The workers have disassembled and set aside the rabbit’s ears and head before removing the limbs of the rabbit,” according to Department of Cultural Affairs, Taoyuan County Government.

About five percent of the remaining rabbit is scorched, resulting a charred torso and paws.

Cause of fire unknown

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but is believed to have been “caused by sparks from chainsaws” used by workers disassembling the rabbit, according to Focus Taiwan.

Made from Tyvek – a waterproof, paper-like construction material – Hofman’s enormous yet adorable Moon Rabbit spent the festival reclining on a grass-roof bunker, gazing at the moon.

The Moon Rabbit was inspired by Chinese folklore associated with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which took place last week. According to legend, the rabbit lives on the moon and is the companion of the moon goddess Chang’er.

“The fortunate thing is that Moon Rabbit was especially designed for the short-term exhibition for Taoyuan Land Arts Festival, and the festival was over yesterday,” said Hsin-yi Hu, exbihition manager for Blue Dragon Art Company, the Taiwan-based group responsible for bringing the rabbit to the festival.

“As a typhoon is coming, workers had been trying to disassemble the installation as quickly as possible,” said Hu. “The fire started on the lawn before spreading to the rabbit.”

Hofman, after being notified, said he was relieved to hear no one was injured from the accident and “blamed” that on the warmess of Taiwanese people to his work, according to the statement.