Espace art actuel #137 – Birds

Thanks to their song, if not their call, we hear birds more often than we see them. They attract our ear more than our eye and, time and again, despite our desire, we can never spot them. There are water birds, savannah and prairie birds, forest birds, and city and garden birds. Among them are passerines (songbirds), the most widespread group in the world. According to the species, their vocalizing varies from the melodic song of a thrush or swallow to the cawing, even shrieking of crows and ravens; however, in spite of their sonic intrusions, they contribute to a feeling that life is good. Whether they chatter, sing, chirp, twitter, squawk, cheep or warble, these winged creatures bring music to the world and add to human well-being.
The documentary The Messenger (SongbirdSOS Productions Inc. and Fils à Cinq), produced in 2016, reminds us that the decline in the rich soundscape that birds produce is one sign that we're living in the Anthropocene era. Subtitled Imagine a World Without Birdsong, the film recognizes the importance of the avian class for nature's biodiversity at a time when numerous threats contribute to their decline everywhere on the planet. There are many reasons for their disappearance. It is no surprise that global warming and our industrial society's intensive agricultural practices have disturbed the seasons and thus, bird migrations. But there is another factor, according to studies carried out by QuébecOiseaux: domestic cats are responsible for the loss of between 100,000 and 375,000 birds a year in Canada alone.
From a human standpoint, certain species are considered pests, especially when it is a matter of protecting seedlings, and indeed our way of life. Artist Graeme Patterson addresses this in Strange Birds (2018–2024), an installation recently presented at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton (New Brunswick) that reminds us of how starlings can become an invasive species. In an earlier project, Fenced In (2017), Patterson depicts them defecating in pools. Adapting to different environments,
this species, known for being highly social, demonstrates the difficulties faced by certain feathered beings when they integrate themselves into our way of life. Patterson also created a series of sculptures titled Ghost Birds (2019) that shows the ghostly marks of birds that have flown into a window. These collisions highlight how our appropriation of land, especially in suburban areas, remains a significant cause of death for thousands of birds.
Birds have always stimulated our imagination. According to a myriad of myths and beliefs, they herald good and bad omens. In many stories, birds symbolize messengers rather than threats. Birds fully participate in celebrating the world. In the West, however, metaphysical thinking has made human beings an anthropological exception. It is only recently that a new sensibility has awakened concern for the natural world and the priceless treasure of bird songs. Screened during The International Festival
of Films on Art (Le FIFA) in 2023, Érik Bullot's documentary La langue des oiseaux (Baldanders Films, 2022) tells the story of a future in which birds are but remainders of a bygone era. This docu-fiction shows men and women trying to translate the language of birds through imitation. Despite these serious efforts to communicate, the birds' songs remain inimitable. This attempted transposition appears rather like a metaphor for a nostalgic reconciliation with sounds that, for those of us living today, may soon be absent.
While it's impossible to deny the decline of certain bird species, this dossier's guest editor, Bénédicte Ramade, wants above all to stimulate our interest in those still living. Presenting the artworks of Julien Discrit and Lydie Jean-Dit-Pannel, she reminds us that many artists, concerned about the birds that remain, "have kept watch, listened, observed and conveyed these sensitive worlds." Moreover, instead of focusing on their disappearance, Ramade insists we must dive "into the wonder that their profound difference inspires." In a similar vein, Manel Benchabane's text focuses on works of Éloïse Plamondon-Pagé and Adrian Göllner, which are based on birdwatching. These artists, she suggests, "remind us of the importance of nurturing hope, if only by keeping a
curious and careful eye on our environment." Writing on Marie Lelouche's Out of Spaces (2022), Marie Chênel presents two series of sculptures linked to a work of virtual reality. Drawing inspiration from our interactions with birds, these works are part of a practice "of creating an alternative space in which, by gently abandoning some of our sensory reference points, we make room for encountering the other."
Josianne Poirier's interview with artists Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens focuses on the works Community Toolshed for the Birds (2021) and The Houses (2024). We live, the artists say, "in a situation where we must radically reinvent our relationships with the more-than-human." However, rationalist thinking frequently blocks this requirement to "encourage new ways of feeling, thinking about, and—especially—interpreting our interdependencies." Similar thoughts emerge in a conversation between Gentiane Bélanger and artist Geneviève Chevalier, resulting in their text that focuses on Chevalier's project Mirement/Towering (2020–2024). The work "challenges this outdated propensity to divide species according to reductive taxonomies," and "allows us to observe the natural complexity that surpasses our classifications and shakes our epistemic convictions." For her contribution, Concepción Cortés Zulueta presents Jan Dibbets's artist's book in which he describes a male robin's movements and how "he followed, studied, and changed [his] territory." She notes that the real behaviour of birds is overshadowed to create a tale about an artist and his supposed accomplice, the robin.
This artistic dexterity of thwarting the real is also taken up in Mara Eagle's video PRETTY TALK (2023). In her text on this work, Gabrielle Provost reflects on the consequences of the domestication of exotic birds. Under the guise of entertainment, this 3-D animated video critiques the effects of human domination over animal life. Joëlle Dubé and Gwynne Fulton offer a reflection on "the long history of avian instrumentalization in human warfare" in their essay. They look at the works of Syrian-Armenian photographer Hrair Sarkissian and Egyptian artist Heba Y. Amin that recount fables from the Middle East from the birds' point of view. In dialogue with this same region, Claudia Polledri takes us to Iran and examines the work of three contemporary artists: Katia Kameli, Narmine Sadeg and Leila Zelli. In reference to an 11th-century Persian poem, each artist gives insight into a range of artistic reworkings of this text, either through a poetic re-reading or from a political perspective.
François Rioux's artistic intervention completes this issue of ESPACE. Titled Le Dindon de la chasse (2023), the work humorously outlines a situation in which the artist's attempt to trap the gaze, turns the hunt into a seduction. Along with the many viewpoints on this issue's theme, the reviews section presents six texts, reporting on exhibitions in Québec, Canada and Europe. Finally, in our selected titles, ESPACE is always pleased to introduce you to recent publications that have caught our attention.
André-Louis Paré