Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, through March 26 2016. On the blurred boundaries between the human observer, animal beings, and computational systems--the cybernetic organism....
In line with its ongoing policy of bringing the visual arts and music together, the Museum has invited French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot to present his living and ephemeral work, an organic installation specifically conceived for the spaces of the Contemporary Art Square, as transformed into a gigantic aviary.
An astounding sonic arrangement featuring songbirds and electric guitars, from here to earconsists of more than seventy zebra finches, enchanting little chaffinches from central Australia, “performing” in the Square. These tuneful and gregarious birds settle in groups on unusual perches: a dozen amplified electric guitars and basses ready to receive the finches, which, as they fly about on the strings, play pre-recorded rock, punk and heavy-metal chords. While the sounds they generate overlie their own songs, the composition of claws on electric guitars that they improvise is governed by the beating of the birds’ wings and by the movements of visitors as they walk around the gallery.
Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, this immersive installation is the Canadian premiere for this French artist who represented his country in the 2015 Biennale in Venice.
This would be an impressive immersive installation to behold! Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s piece reminds me of Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson’s “Birdconcert Oct. 23, 2005 (Carduelis carduelis) Part 1.” The piece depicts a solo performance of a British songbird in a concert hall regularly used for classical recitals. The bird and the audience became participants in the live performance and video, whereby, “the process of art-making became the subject of the piece.”
I love this, and also wish I could experience it! It is beautiful how the birds perch and flock in the space. I have thought at times that city birds don’t seem to mind all that much the noises that I sometimes resent. And here they seem completely at ease with distorted guitar sounds.
I recently came in touch with a French choreographer – Luc Petton and his company Le Guetteur – who has done a number of pieces with dancers and birds interacting. There are some videos available online:
I love this, and also wish I could experience it! It is beautiful how the birds perch and flock in the space. I have thought at times that city birds don’t seem to mind all that much the noises that I sometimes resent. And here they seem completely at ease with the distorted guitar sounds. Céleste Boursier-Mougenot does talk about how from a young age he was interested in both natural and mechanical / urban sounds.
Also, I recently came in touch with a French choreographer – Luc Petton and his company Le Guetteur – who has done a number of pieces with dancers and birds interacting. There are some videos available online:
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This would be an impressive immersive installation to behold! Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s piece reminds me of Swedish artist Henrik Håkansson’s “Birdconcert Oct. 23, 2005 (Carduelis carduelis) Part 1.” The piece depicts a solo performance of a British songbird in a concert hall regularly used for classical recitals. The bird and the audience became participants in the live performance and video, whereby, “the process of art-making became the subject of the piece.”
http://www.friezeprojects.org/commissions/detail/henrik_hakansson/
I love this, and also wish I could experience it! It is beautiful how the birds perch and flock in the space. I have thought at times that city birds don’t seem to mind all that much the noises that I sometimes resent. And here they seem completely at ease with distorted guitar sounds.
I recently came in touch with a French choreographer – Luc Petton and his company Le Guetteur – who has done a number of pieces with dancers and birds interacting. There are some videos available online:
Light-bird – With Manchurian cranes (aka Red crowned cranes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zy-YGNyeE
La confidence des oiseaux – 30 different birds:
http://www.lucpetton.com/fr/repertoire/la-confidence-des-oiseaux/
His company: http://www.lucpetton.com/fr/repertoire/
He is actually interested in coming to Canada for a tour… So maybe we might see one of these pieces at some point.
I love this, and also wish I could experience it! It is beautiful how the birds perch and flock in the space. I have thought at times that city birds don’t seem to mind all that much the noises that I sometimes resent. And here they seem completely at ease with the distorted guitar sounds. Céleste Boursier-Mougenot does talk about how from a young age he was interested in both natural and mechanical / urban sounds.
Also, I recently came in touch with a French choreographer – Luc Petton and his company Le Guetteur – who has done a number of pieces with dancers and birds interacting. There are some videos available online:
Light-bird – With Manchurian cranes (aka Red crowned cranes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-zy-YGNyeE
La confidence des oiseaux – 30 different birds:
http://www.lucpetton.com/fr/repertoire/la-confidence-des-oiseaux/
His company: http://www.lucpetton.com/fr/repertoire/
He is interested in coming to Canada for a tour… So maybe we might see one of these pieces at some point.