Riff Raff always in focus

PETER DRURY

Mark Servian shows off the Riff Raff statue to the world via a web cam.

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The Riff Raff statue is pretty hard to miss when you walk down Hamilton's Victoria St, and now you don't even need to go into the city to have a look.

The Riff Raff Art Trust has installed a webcam so Riff Raff is never out of sight, anywhere in the world.

Trust chairman Mark Servian said the idea had been around for a while but they decided to install the webcam to coincide with the statue's fifth birthday.

He said the inspiration came from the public response to the original placing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show character, which was a gesture to "the silly conservative underbelly in this city".

"I saw people taking photos of themselves with it and the gay community have had events there," he said.

He had also been surprised by the number of people who had decorated the statue.

"People have dressed him up now and again and he even had a blue cast on his arm for a week like John Key," Mr Servian said, referring to the prime minister's broken arm.

The aim of the webcam was to create a virtual pilgrimage site and give people another reason to come to Hamilton.

Mr Servian added that he thought the website would be a lot more entertaining than the council's Garden Place webcam, where people could "hardly see anything anyway".

See www.riffraffstatue.org

- © Fairfax NZ News