Birds Playing an Electric Guitar

Posted by Danger on January 23rd, 2010 filed in Art Saves

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot recorded the sounds and images of birds lured to land on and pluck at the strings of an electric guitar left outside:

His installation for The Curve will take the form of a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other instruments and objects. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

His resulting sound installation is on display at the Barbican Art Gallery in London starting on February 27.


8 Responses to “Birds Playing an Electric Guitar”

  1. ClovenSkull Says:

    I have to be brutally honest here, all this artist has done is find a way to absolutely ruin the calm serene sounds of nature.

    birds can’t play guitars, its the sad truth.

  2. Gene Says:

    >clovenskull
    i dont think the finches were able to hear the guitar sounds.
    they looked calm as fuck.

  3. ClovenSkull Says:

    yea fair enough, but I’d still rather just hear the birds singing by themselves, minus the guitars!

    maybe if he had set up a keyboard that had different birdcalls on it, might have been a bit easier on the ear and more interesting for the birds.

  4. Mr. P Says:

    I truly hope this won’t be the main source of inspiration for the next Otep album…

  5. Emjay Aytch Says:

    Very aeolian harp. Very John Cage. Accidental guitar is fun. Especially when distorted. Take Hendrix–feedback can be a wonderful thing.

  6. Nephthys Says:

    isn’t it amazing to see how not only can humans make music, but that amimals can as well.

  7. Rizz Rustbolt Says:

    Oddly enough, it sounds better than your average radio rock band.

    Nature… \m/It rocks!\m/

  8. Elizabeth Says:

    That was cute, and it’s the first time my cat has taken an interest in anything on my computer screen. She thought they were real and tried to sniff and paw them. hahahaha

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