September 8 – 14: Screening of Les oiseaux de Céleste
Stream the eight-minute video work, Les oiseaux de Céleste, by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot and Ariane Michel from September 8 through September 14 directly on this page.
Céleste Boursier-Mougenot/Ariane Michel, Les oiseaux de Céleste, 2008 (still), video, running time: 8 minutes, Edition of 8, 4 APs. Film of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's installation from here to ear. Realized by: Ariane Michel
Initially a composer of music, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has gained worldwide recognition for his acoustic installations that use nature and the rhythms of everyday life to investigate the relationship between sound, space and movement. Realized by the artist Ariane Michel in 2008, Les oiseaux de Céleste is a short film that documents Boursier-Mougenot’s acclaimed work, from here to ear.
For this immersive installation, Boursier-Mougenot transforms an interior space into a walk-through aviary with dozens of live zebra finches. The aviary is equipped with sand, plants and nesting places, as well as a number of Gibson Les Paul and Thunderbird bass guitars arranged horizontally on stands. As the chirping birds flit around and explore their environment—eating, nesting and perching on the strings of the amplified instruments—their activities give rise to an experimental ambient soundtrack. Viewers are invited to walk inside the living installation, which intensifies and changes in accordance with the dynamic between the visitors and finches. A constantly evolving soundscape emerges, turning the exhibition space into a concert hall.
In the eight-minute video, Les oiseaux de Céleste, Ariane Michel offers viewers the opportunity to enter the birds’ experience of the piece. Treated as main characters, the finches discover what at first seem to be simple perches, only to be surprised by the sound their movements provoke on the strings. As the birds grow more confident with the sonic objects, their relationship to the sound builds in complexity. The piece culminates as one bird who, while building a nest, literally invents a ‘branch slide,’ producing a powerfully resonant sound. To learn more about Ariane Michel’s work, visit her website here.
As one of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s most celebrated works, from here to ear has been shown at institutions around the world—adapted each time to the specific site—including Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, China (2017); Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Canada (2016); Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA (2014); HangarBicocca, Milan, Italy (2011); Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2011); STUK Arts Center, Leuven, Belgium (2010); Barbican Gallery, London, UK (2010); Lentos Museum of Modern Art, Linz, Austria (2007); Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France (2002); Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati, OH (2000); P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY (1999); and others. For more information about the work, click on the links below.
Read: Ben Mirin, “Birds That Play Guitar,” Slate, April 10, 2014.
Listen: Melissa Block and Audie Cornish, “These Guitars Are For The Birds — Literally,” NPR All Things Considered, January 15, 2014.
Watch: Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Luke Remage-Healey, Aaron Stewart and Jeff Podos, “Les oiseaux de Céleste: Film Screening and Panel Discussion,” University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMass Amherst, October 4, 2012.