Police Searching for Man Who Popped Bubble Wrap

It was part of an art installation
By Luke Roney,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2021 10:30 AM CDT
Police Searching for Man Who Popped Bubble Wrap
Bubble Wrap streams out of an extruding line.   (AP Photo/Christopher Barth)

Popping bubble wrap is a source of satisfaction for many people. For a man in Canada, however, it may be the source of legal troubles. Police in Vancouver are asking for tips from the public as they work to track down the unidentified man shown in a video damaging a piece of art at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Vancouver Sun reports. The piece, titled “Delta Trim,” is crafted from moose hide, Velcro, zip ties, reflective tape, and bubble wrap. The video, which was posted to TikToc earlier this year, reportedly shows the man popping some of the bubble wrap. The artist behind the piece, Maureen Gruben, tells the Globe and Mail that it is inspired by a parka owned by her late mother. “It speaks about the memory of love and care from your mother,” the Indigenous artist says. “That’s what Inuit women do for their children, out of necessity but also out of love.”

“It is very upsetting to see the blatant disregard towards the artist’s time, energy and creative expression that it took to create this piece of art,” a Vancouver police spokeswoman said, per Global News. The cost to repair the damage to the $14,000 piece could top $6,500, because more than 20 feet of bubble wrap will need to be replaced. “It’s all one roll; it’s not like you could take a section out,” Gruben’s gallerist, LaTiesha Fazakas, tells the Globe and Mail. “That would be super labor-intensive.” The vandal is described as being between 19 and 23 years old, with dark skin, brown eyes, and black, shoulder-length curly hair. Initially, Fazakas thought the damage may have been accidental. But then the TikToc video emerged: “He was super smug about it and thought it was really funny and saw it as an opportunity to create a social-media post,” she says. (More vandalism stories.)

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