Birding Sound Installations

In The Field Sound Installation

For the juried exhibition Bird Sightings, I created two sound installations.  The first installation, In the Field (above) contained sixteen stereo sound mixes played through a set of speakers in the gallery.  Each mix was separated by silence, allowing sound to enter and exit the gallery space. The listener was taken from my field recordings of the morning bird sounds to the stories and eccentricities of bird watchers.  Recorded stories ranged from the humorous, finding an Ivory Gull at the dump, to the lyrical, bird watchers anxiously awaiting spring.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Tattered Bird Books Sound Installation

A second installation, Give Me Your Tired, Your Tattered Bird Books had its own corner in the gallery.  I asked bird watchers to loan me their birding field guides.  Among the books, I received many editions of Peterson’s A Field Guide to the Birds dating back to 1947.  Bird watchers also loaned the bird books they received as a child or inherited from their parents.  Two of the books dated circa 1900.

After collecting the books, I recorded the bird watchers describing their books and related memories.  The bird books were displayed along with an old pair of binoculars.  Participants could view the books, while listening through headphones to the recollections.