Thomas Dambo’s TROLLS: Save the Humans, with Imagine Exhibitions, coming to Philadelphia Zoo this Winter and early Spring

Six enormous Trolls are coming to Philadelphia Zoo on a mission to inspire humans to take better care of nature.

Philadelphia Zoo is thrilled to announce Thomas Dambo’s TROLLS: Save the Humans, produced by Imagine Exhibitions, is making its East Coast debut in Philadelphia February 1, 2024. The world’s leading recycle artist created these six, folklore-inspired Trolls using repurposed wood. The Trolls are on a mission to inspire humans to take better care of nature.

“As the region’s foremost conservation and education destination, we are excited to welcome these enormous Trolls to the Zoo and have them help us tell the story of how we can all make a difference for the planet,” says Director of Marketing Patrick McMaster. “Thomas Dambo’s Trolls can be found around the world in some of the most beautiful places in nature, and we’re honored to have the Zoo be their next destination.”

Each with a unique name and story, the Trolls believe rethinking how we live our daily lives will help save the planet for all animals, including humans, and they want to share their ideas. They want all humans to reduce trash, reuse everything, and recycle when they can. The Trolls believe that these actions and others to protect wildlife and wild places are important steps to help save the planet for all animals, including humans.

The Trolls are stomping through the Zoo February 1 through April 15. The Trolls, ranging up to 15 feet tall, will be located throughout the Zoo’s 42-acre campus. The exhibition is included in admission to the Zoo. Admission ranges between $19 -$25 for adults and children and is free for Zoo Members. To accompany this exhibit, guests are encouraged to bring their old Zoo Keys (or purchase one at any of the Zoo’s retail locations) to hear stories from the Trolls themselves.

Meet the Trolls

Ronja Redeye: The Trolls’ fearless leader ready to welcome guests to Philadelphia Zoo. Her mission is to encourage guests to rethink ways to minimize trash.

Rosa Sunfinger: The Troll with a green thumb. She wants guests to find ways to renew the habitats around them and plant native plants wherever they can to create habitats for pollinators.

Sofus Lotus: The Troll who loves to listen. He likes to get down on the ground to hear the sounds of all wild things. His mission is to inspire guests to reconnect and learn from nature.

Ibbi Pip: The Troll in charge of finding new uses for old things. Her passion is reusing old wood to create bird houses, providing a home for these animals to feel safe and raise their chicks.

Kamma Can: The Troll who’s a pro at recycling. She created her beautiful jewelry from plastic that would otherwise pollute wild places.

Basse Buller: The Troll who refuses to give up on protecting the planet. He’s on a mission to motivate guests to refuse the habits humans have that hurt nature.

About Philadelphia Zoo

At Philadelphia Zoo, the Zoo moves around you! Pioneering Zoo360, a first-in-the-world system of animal exploration trails, Philadelphia Zoo has inspired more than 70 zoos around the globe to design new ways to invite animals to travel and roam through their own campuses. Passing through treetops, crossing over pathways and connecting habitats, Zoo360 provides Philadelphia Zoo’s beautiful big cats, playful lemurs, and lively monkeys innovative ways to explore and marvel at one another and our guests. Visit our quickly-growing sloth bear cubs in Bear Country, the new Ankole cattle hillside, Amur tigers at Big Cat Falls, western lowland gorillas in PECO Primate Reserve, Victorian crown pigeons at McNeil Avian Center, and hippos, zebras and white rhino throughout African Plains. Share a space with critically endangered lemurs as you wander through our new Lemur Island, look up as you feed the world’s tallest animal at Giraffe Experience, or get up-close as you hand-serve colorful birds their meals at Wings of Asia. Philadelphia Zoo is one of the region’s foremost conservation and education organizations and home to endangered, and in some cases extinct, animals in the wild. By connecting people with wildlife, Philadelphia Zoo creates joyful discovery and inspires action for animals and habitats. Philadelphia Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is a non-smoking facility.

About the artist, Thomas Dambo

Born in Odense, Denmark in 1979, Artist Thomas Dambo’s mission is to create art that inspires people to explore, have adventures in nature, and show that recycled goods can be turned into something beautiful. Before embarking on the path of building larger-than-life troll sculptures, Thomas led a multi-faceted life that allowed him to express his creativity via music, street art, and scenic design. After graduating from the Kolding Design School in Kolding, Denmark, with a master’s degree in interactive design, Thomas began his journey of using recycled materials to create colorful art installations, building the foundation for his artwork today. He currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark.

About the TROLLS

Dambo is best known for his colossal troll sculptures that range in height from 16 to 50 feet and ‘live’ as permanent or semi-permanent installations in parks, greenspaces, industrial parks, and in other site-specific locations around the world. Each folklore-inspired sculpture is imbued with expression and character and is built entirely from reclaimed materials. Driven by a mission to inspire people to explore our relationship with the planet, many of Dambo’s works have an associated folk tale written by Dambo himself that address the complex problem of our world in a fun and approachable way.

In the Spring of 2018, Dambo unveiled a temporary exhibition of TROLLS at The Morton Arboretum just outside of Chicago, IL. The exhibition was an enormous success, leading to the garden’s two highest attended years in its nearly 100-year history. During the run of the exhibition, 1.26 million people visited the arboretum. Inspired by the enthusiasm of the visitors and compelled to find a way to enable Dambo’s work to have a longer lifespan in the spirit of reducing, reusing, and recycling, Imagine Exhibitions is delighted to partner with Dambo to develop this evergreen traveling exhibition.

About Imagine Exhibitions

Atlanta based world leader in narrative-driven, immersive experiences, Imagine Exhibitions, Inc. creates, markets, and operates sophisticated, high-quality experiences for gardens, museums, zoos, brands, venues, and integrated resorts across the globe. From ideation to operation, Imagine’s team of industry pioneers draws upon decades of success in the fields of immersive design, storytelling, and

entertainment to consistently create and implement memorable and thought-provoking environments. The company’s custom experiences deliver focused messaging and serve to increase attendance wherever they are presented.

A global pioneer in traveling entertainment, Imagine Exhibitions has created many internationally recognized exhibitions such as Harry Potter™: The Exhibition; Titanic: The Exhibition, The Hunger Games: The Exhibition, Angry Birds: The Art & Science Behind a Global Phenomenon, Jurassic World: The Exhibition, and Downton Abbey: The Exhibition. Imagine currently presents and operates more than 40 unique exhibitions in museums, science centers, aquariums, integrated resorts, and non-traditional venues worldwide. Imagine also designs, opens, and operates its own venues and creates and implements permanent and semi-permanent museums, brands, and entertainment properties.