The Birds is a speculative enquiry by artists Jen Berean, Callum Morton and Linda Tegg. The artists use the typology of the birdbath as a starting point to create sculptural forms that are at the service of the local avian population. The project’s first iteration has been installed in the Ian Potter Sculpture Court at Monash University Museum of Art | MUMA. Located at the base of an urban ‘canyon’, in what was once an active habitat for migratory and nomadic bird species, MUMA’s sculpture court is now frequented by mostly sedentary species such as Indian mynas, rock doves and little ravens.
The project asks: how can we use public art as a vehicle for learning the complexities and specificity of place? And how can our urban environment reflect these understandings? The rocks that form the sculptures have travelled from the surrounding uplands, plains and rivers. Sourced from a stone yard, these nomads were once destined to be processed into familiar urban materials: gravel, pavers and curbs. They have been reimagined as water-holders for the birds that live here now and those that may return. Travelling fastest of all, images made by surveillance cameras incorporated into the sculptures are live-streamed into the surrounding faculty buildings.
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