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Doomsday For The Dunes Of Plastic Balls: The End Comes For 'The Beach'

It took volunteers 25 hours to move 750,000 plastic balls from the National Building Museum's "Beach" installation to Dupont Underground, a creative arts institution in Washington, D.C.
Christina Cala
/
NPR
It took volunteers 25 hours to move 750,000 plastic balls from the National Building Museum's "Beach" installation to Dupont Underground, a creative arts institution in Washington, D.C.

This summer at "The Beach" in Washington, D.C., there was no saltwater or sand.

"The Beach" was an art installation at the National Building Museum featuring an ocean of 750,000 translucent, plastic balls.

You could wade in or jump into this giant ball pit. And all summer long, people brought their kids and took selfies. It was a hit.

But sadly, summer's done, and so is "The Beach." The exhibit is now closed. But what happened to those plastic balls? They found new life in a different part of the city.

NPR followed their journey this week to Dupont Underground, an old trolley station that is being transformed into a creative arts institution. The balls will be a part of that transformation, "to do something on a grand scale," says Braulio Agnese, managing director for Dupont Undeground.

"To do something on a grand scale — 750,000 plastic balls — I think, this is a chance to create something really interesting that engages our space," he says.

Use the audio player above to hear the full story.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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