Birds! Birds! Birds! (To Everything There is a Season)
2024
Intervention / site-specific installation on apple trees, various sizes
Bird seeds, flour, water, peanut butter, ceramics, twine string
In the apple orchard of community garden ATV Piccardthof, Groningen
I was so lucky to be part of the Het Resort program for starting artists, midseason ‘23, which ended with a 2 week residency in an allotment garden community in Groningen (NL). Here I got to stay in the lovely house of Leni and Pete, conveniently situated across from the community garden, without electricity or internet but filled with birds chirping, slow mornings, and mice dancing on the ceiling, lulling me to sleep.
During my days in this rare Eden, where time was different and I could see the stars at night, I worked on an interventional installation on the blooming apple trees in the community garden. After buying 8 kg worth of bird seeds, I experimented until I got the right sticky, yet mouldable, mixture to make the sculptures. I wanted to bond with the non-human community that also seasonally reside in the gardens, so I invited any hungry bird to collaborate and chisel away my sculptures as they nibble on the seeds.
To my joy, they really loved my sculpting mixture which I spent the first week of my residency perfecting the recipe:
- 450-500 ml mixed bird seeds
- 100 ml flour
- 100 ml water
- 2 spoons of corn starch
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1 spoon bird peanut butter
- a pinch of good fortune and gratefulness
After consulting with Ingrid, the head-gardener of the apple trees, I applied the mix directly on the trees using a “glue” only made of flour and water. It survived many rain storms and sun without harming the trees, so I recommend it!
During my days in this rare Eden, where time was different and I could see the stars at night, I worked on an interventional installation on the blooming apple trees in the community garden. After buying 8 kg worth of bird seeds, I experimented until I got the right sticky, yet mouldable, mixture to make the sculptures. I wanted to bond with the non-human community that also seasonally reside in the gardens, so I invited any hungry bird to collaborate and chisel away my sculptures as they nibble on the seeds.
To my joy, they really loved my sculpting mixture which I spent the first week of my residency perfecting the recipe:
- 450-500 ml mixed bird seeds
- 100 ml flour
- 100 ml water
- 2 spoons of corn starch
- 1 handful of raisins
- 1 spoon bird peanut butter
- a pinch of good fortune and gratefulness
After consulting with Ingrid, the head-gardener of the apple trees, I applied the mix directly on the trees using a “glue” only made of flour and water. It survived many rain storms and sun without harming the trees, so I recommend it!
A blue tit visiting one of the sculptures
