Birds in the Park Project
Date:
Thursday, March 18, 2010 - 9:00am - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - 5:00pm
Location :
DC
As mentioned, the birds are coming to DC, the weekend of March 18th-21st!
The landing dates and places for DC are:
Thursday, March 18th -- the National Mall (between 7th and 12th st.)
Friday, March 19th -- Dupont Circle
Sunday, March 21st -- Upper Senate Park, (near the Capitol)
What will happen: the birds will land for a day at a time, "flying in" in the morning and taking off in the evening before dark. They will be placed on the ground or on railings, in groups or pecking away alone. People are encouraged to walk around them or sit down next to them and read the text, documents and poetry printed on them. Often the passersby's feelings, reflections and thoughts about war and peace, the Iraq war or war in general, are triggered by these seemingly innocent birds and conversations between people are stirred.
The artist Christy Hengst will be there the entire duration of the installation, available to explain, chat or simply listen to the stories.
MORE INFO ON THE PROJECT
C h r i s t y H e n g s t -- B i r d s i n t h e P a r k
“Birds in the Park” is a touring project, which involves the temporary installation of thirty to sixty porcelain birdlike forms on the ground.
Pecking around randomly, they might be taken for pigeons. They are, in a sense, carrier pigeons, as the forms carry images, text, and other documents, which have been printed with cobalt blue and fired into the surface. The message they bear is an exploration of the beautiful and the horrible side by side. Originating with the shock and dismay I felt as the US government began the war with Iraq, and expanding to consider the phenomenon of war in general, the questions posed by the birds are about the humanness of us all. How we are connected, and also the unthinkable ways in which that bond is disregarded.
More specifically, I’m layering, and in some cases placing side by side, silk-screened images of children playing, love letters, poetry and prose… with silk-screened newspaper articles and photographs of the lead-up to and beginning of the current Iraq war, as well as other war-related documents that tend to bring up the question, How can people do that to each other?!
For most citizens, and for me, personal experience of this war has been mainly through the media. In fact I feel that the media had a large role in the U.S. public’s acceptance of the decision to go to war, and I’m looking closely at how the invasion of Iraq was “sold” to regular people. Also, how discussions about the cold facts of war, weapons capabilities etc. can become detached from the human reality on the other end, creeping into everyday life as something normal, like birds in the park.
In addition to personal photography and images and text taken from public media, I am collaborating with writer and Vietnam War veteran Tim Origer, English poet Henry Shukman, and Venezuelan photographer Maria de Las Casas for some of the material that appears on the birds.
This work draws on years of experimentation with silk-screen printing onto clay. I create the silk screens from photographs and documents, and use them to apply the image and text onto wet porcelain. While the clay is still flexible, I form the birds, and eventually fire them at a very high temperature.
The forms themselves are about a foot and a half each in length. Low to the ground, some are involved in their own search, while many appear to be in conversation with each other.
Although they are made from porcelain, the pieces are actually quite sturdy. They are positioned in such a way that people can wander among them, taking time to look and read.
I set them up in the morning and take them down at night. It’s out of the blue and somewhat fleeting, the better to catch the unsuspecting passerby’s curiosity.
The project began in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where in the spring of 2009 the birds landed in about thirty locations; places like the farmer's market, City Hall, various parks, cafes and libraries. Later, the birds began to fly farther afield, landing at places along the coast of California, in Central Park, NY, in a sculpture garden in New Orleans, at a University Plaza in Germany, in front of Chartres Cathedral in France, and even migrating so far as the Galapagos islands.
Their flight pattern continues to develop, as do the pieces themselves. As I make new birds, the flock evolves and grows. New content is showing up, sometimes in response to places that the birds have been or will be visiting. Text appears in several languages. Images may foreshadow or remember aspects of some of the landing sites which are significant in the birds' search for humanity.
Pictures and location information are updated at www.christyhengst.com
