DIE BUCHFINKEN
sound installation, 2022
Die Buchfinken – A co-habitation with Chaffinches is a fictional encounter between a couple of Chaffinches and an artist-in-residence. This sound installation brings together recorded sounds from Tyrol, the bird songs of finches and the activity of the artist, all into the space of this barn.
This sound installation stages a fictional co-habitation by the birds and the artist. The sounds of the artist preparing the space can be heard simultaneously with the vocalisations of the chaffinches. Through filling the barn with these sounds, an impression of a temporary dwelling is created. The artist-in-residence inhabits the space like a migratory bird, briefly performing a series of sounds before moving to another place.
Chaffinches are common all around Europe. In colder regions such as Tyrol they tend to migrate further south during the colder winter period. They are known as chaffinches because they are often seen picking through the chaff left out by the farmers after the harvest season.
As they are very common, their bird songs are widely recognised. Like many bird vocalisations, they are often associated with images of idyllic nature. However, like many bird vocalisations, the bird song of the chaffinch are in fact quite territorial. They are proxies for a kind of demarcation of space.
Heyse Ip
Heyse Ip (1995, Hong Kong) is a multi-disciplinary artist and researcher based in London and Hong Kong. He works with moving image, performance, sculpture and sound explore themes such as power dynamics in surveillance and public spaces through a lens of absurdity and humour. Informed by his interest in the idea of a human becoming an animal and a human becoming an apparatus, he creates a deliberate intersection between the digital and the animal, offering alternative narratives around the subjects of his works.
Ip holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art, UK and a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts, UK. In 2019, he had his first solo show at Lumenvisum, Hong Kong. He also exhibited and performed as part of various group shows, including Meta Alarm (2022), Here’s one I made earlier (2022) by Offsite Project and Plicnik Space Initiative (2020), amongst others.
the barn / bewegGRUND
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