Japan’s Mori Art Museum is holding an exhibit of Contemporary Indian Art. One of the works is a giant elephant lying on its side. The Japan Times explains how it got there:

“At first, it had looked like we wouldn’t be able to borrow that elephant,” Nanjo said. “It is by the Indian artist Bharti Kher and belongs to the Queensland Art Gallery in Australia.” The museum director explained that the surface of the elephant was covered with bindi, adhesive ornaments generally placed in the center of Indian women’s foreheads. “We were told if we tried to move the sculpture, they would all fall off,” he said. Fears were allayed when Nanjo visited the lending museum’s director and it was realized that the work could indeed be transported and also exhibited on the same 5 x 2 meter palette. “That meant no one would ever have to actually touch the elephant itself,” he explained. “You can see it’s still on the palette now.”

Talking Around and About Art (Japan Times)