Céleste Boursier-Mougenot
I was so excited yesterday when Amy over on All the Mountians posted a video featuring French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installation for The Curve at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. Little African Finches play an intricate role in Céleste’s pieces, acting as catalyst for amazing reactions – like strumming randomly on an electric guitar in the video below. Plus they are just so darn cute.
I was lucky enough to experience the wonderful Variations installation below at MCASD while living in San Diego a few years back. To this day it was one of the most memorable art pieces I’ve seen – that and Erwin Redl’s Matrix II, which also happens to be part of MCASD’s permeant collection. Variations is whimsical, random, and euphonious. The installation was in a kiddy pool at the center of the museum and its bell tolls resonated throughout the entire museum. As a side note, anyone under the age of 25 seriously needs to take advantage of MCASD’s free admissions – it’s awesome!
At the same exhibit as Variations, there was a video installation where you could watch a movie filmed similarly to the Barbican video at the top of the post. It showed African Finches flying about an urban loft/warehouse with lots of hanging objects that struck each other like wind chimes as the finches fluttered about landing on different things. I vaguely remember a lot of clothes hangers and stuff like that. But the best part was that you experienced the movie while wearing high quality headphones which enabled you to hear all the magical tings, chimes, and chirps of the space created by Boursier-Mougenot.
- Curt
