CCSU Chen Gallery

AVIARY

Michael Pestel

February 5 - March 5*

1 - 4 PM, Monday - Friday

or by appointment

(Gallery Hours during exhibition)

* Please note: The CCSU Art Galleries will be closed for the Presidents Day holidays, Feb. 13-16

Opening Reception, Thursday, February 5, 4 - 7 pm

Artist Lecture, 3:00 pm, Thursday, February 5, preceding reception

Performance, 4:30, Thursday, February 5, during reception

___________________________________________________________

AVIARY is a multimedia art installation and hands-on performance space for
the contemplation of birds we can no longer hear and a celebration of
those that we can. The visitor to the exhibition is invited to contemplate
the meaning of absence and to imagine being a bird among birds – to fly,
to sing, to shriek, to dive, to honk, to wail, to peep, to jive and to
explore an avian sense of place.

___________________________________________________________

Student Workshop, 3:30 pm, Wednesday, February 25

"Ornithopera" Participatory Performance, 3:30, Wednesday, March 4

The basic structure of Ornithopera requires a minimum of 23 performers, but can accommodate many more. No formal training or experience in music performance is necessary. Although it is useful for anyone intending to participate in the closing performance to attend at least one workshop session (approximately 60-90 min), others are welcome to attend as well. Instrumentalists are encouraged to bring their instruments and vocalists to bring their voices. Given the spatial arrangement of the installation, all the performers will have an opportunity to explore an unusual ensemble structure that both surrounds the audience and solicits their participation. Trained musicians will also have an opportunity to explore conceptual scoring devices and free improvisation.

The orchestral ambience of "Ornithopera" – whether perceived as jarring cacophony or aleatoric pleasure – is an invitation to contemplate the meaning of absence, to lament our insistent superiority, to experience the possibility of presence, and to participate with others in being a bird among birds: to fly, to sing, to shriek, to dive, to honk, to wail, to peep, to jive…or to listen and watch in silence. Please come prepared to celebrate our interspecies commonality and to imagine an avian sense of place.

AVIARY is a multimedia art installation and hands-on performance space for the contemplation of birds we can no longer hear and a celebration of those that we can. The exhibition juxtaposes a variety of music ensemble set-ups, architectural structures, video projections and audio installations aimed at evoking and problematizing the aviary experience in the context of bird extinction. In addition, a “study area” features documentation from related performances and installations along with general information about birds and bird sound. Collaborative workshops will be offered during the course of the exhibition, culminating in a performance work, Ornithopera, on March 4, 2009 at 4:00.

Humans take a natural delight in aviary exhibits – the diverse species, the exotic plumage, the carefully simulated environments and painted dioramas, the open flyways, and the entrancing musicality of birds. Yet the very presence of diverse species inside the great glass and steel enclosures betrays their increasing absence on the outside. The vast reduction of song birds in North America, the growing numbers of species on the endangered list worldwide, and the scores of species extinctions during the past six centuries all point to common themes: habitat destruction, predator imbalances, and more recently, global warming.

Significantly, the history of aviaries and zoos since the Enlightenment parallels the development of such related institutions as natural history museums and the European prison system. Indeed, the development of scientific taxonomy classification and the confinement of birds in cages go hand in hand. Ironic though it may be, it is fair to say that the best aviaries, zoos, and wildlife centers today are doing what they can to loosen their systemic link to the processes of repression and erasure. Through extensive breeding programs, public education, and fundraising efforts, these institutions represent a modicum of hope for our ability to reverse the rush towards increased species extinction.

In an effort to elucidate the linkages between naming, writing, control and suppression, AVIARY revisits the Latin names of the extinct birds as a vehicle for sonic resuscitation and remembrance. AVIARY asks what species-extinction means to us and what the process of remembering, of marking absence, might look and sound like. It wonders aloud how we might celebrate the beauty of extant species – including our own – from within the very systems of power that unwittingly seek to destroy them. The visitor to the exhibition is invited to contemplate the meaning of absence, to lament our insistent superiority and to imagine being a bird among birds – to fly, to sing, to shriek, to dive, to honk, to wail, to peep, to jive and to explore an avian sense of place.

Collaborative workshops with students will be offered during the course of the exhibition and culminate in performances at a closing event on March 4, 2009 at 4 o'clock.

SPRING 2009