FÜR DIE VÖGEL
The aeronautical settlement for the Sculpture Park was
implemented by 24 artists from the Department of Sculpture and Space, University of Applied Arts Vienna, as artists in residence
and accompanied by Claudia Märzendorfer.
Apart from project-related parameters for constructing
the birdhouses, such as excluding the danger to animals, nature and people, the respective birdhouses are defined by very
different concepts and procedures. Some houses question the exhibition title in its intrinsic meaning and break away from
it or reverse it. There are associations with social issues such as the real estate crisis, architectural references such
as the Wittgenstein House in Vienna or humorous gestures. Some engaged in meticulous artistic research to find an ideal hybrid
material that simultaneously functions as bird food and building material. Others concluded by planting a tree sapling.
The birdhouses also express cross-sectional features of contemporary art:
From the ready-made to the gesture
to the craftsmanship, the birdhouses hang, swing, or stick in species-appropriate restraint. More like comments that address
less the large sculptural neighbourhood and more the connections between animals and humans. In their versatility, they also
reflect the diversity of birds, refer to the individual space for action, and are, at the same time, collective expressions
from the Department of Sculpture and Space.
This concept, introduced by Claudia Märzendorfer in 2019 at the Hollabrunn
State Hospital, is now being expanded to other locations. By 2024, around 68 sculptural birdhouses will be built as part of
this project which can be viewed on the website forthebirds.at.
Text: Claudia Märzendorfer und Ludwig Kittinger
Foto: Felix Hell
