//Taubenhaus - The perch

in cooperation with Martin Walde and Ernst Trawoeger
a project to be presented in the exhibition `TO ACTUALITY`
curator: Maia Damianovic (NY/USA)
organisation: ARGE KUNST/Gallery Museum, Bozen
coordination: Sabine Gamper
location: Bozen, the public urban space - indoor and outdoor projects, October 2002

"The Big Perch" visualizes a taboo. It realizes an idea that seems counterproductive at first - the concept of a perch for urban pigeons. The initial question was whether urban pigeons are to be regarded as wild pigeons, or rather as a domesticated or hybrid form of the wild pigeon. This distinction is significant, given that the needs of a wild pigeon are fundamentally different from those of the domesticated form and, by consequence, the design requirements for a perch are bound to be equally different. In an attempt to answer this question and capture this process in a concrete form, Martin Walde first started to cooperate with ornithologist and artist Ernst Trawoeger. This fictitious model provided the basis for their cooperation with ESCAPE*spHERE.

//Project abstract by ESCAPE*spHERE The opportunity of working on "The Big Perch" with artists Martin Walde and Ernst Trawoeger was accepted by ESCAPE*spHERE as a highly interesting challenge: We are fascinated by the project, notably by the intrinsic intersection of sculptural and political expression in the focus issue of the pigeon population in urban habitats, and the task of designing potential shelters or nesting places for some of the urban pigeons. Our part in this cooperation, as we perceive it, is to transform the three-dimensional image of a hovering Moebius strip into a constructible object, keeping the structural design of the actual, or prospective, Perch as close as possible to the original image without running the risk of resorting to literal translation.