In the path of a migratory flyway

A song bird sound catcher - suspended above a dinner table',

An installation with video and audience participation, dimensions variable 2015

The project consists of interconnected parts, to be exhibited along each other and/or separately.:

Part A

-Diary of artist’s notes and sketches on Migratory flyways as Suspended Spaces.

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Part B

- Tin cone-shaped portable handmade loudspeaker of songbird mating calls.

Part C

-Table with songbird mating call tin-cone suspended above the table. Installation consists of white table-cloth, bird nests, cutlery, wine-glasses, stools, poems inspired by the flight of birds, Information, maps of songbird flyways killing hotspots and artists diary.

A Voice-recorder with instructions for audience participation was also placed on the table.

Part D

- Video of chef cooking a three course meal with birds, domestic and wild.

“In the path of a migratory flyway” was followed by “Requiem pour un oiseau rebelle”, an installation with video projection of a staged theatrical meal inspired by the death of Carmen.

 http://lialapithi.com/album/4/info/11.html

Artists notes  (Part A)

In the path of a migratory flyway…a killing hotspot

"Sur les traces d’une voie migratoire"-began in April 2013, when I was invited to attend a workshop in Beirut, Lebanon by the Suspended Spaces team. The result of this is published in a Beaux-Arts de Paris edition, financed by Minister de la Culture et de la Communication, France. The Suspended Spaces 3 “Inachever la modernite” publication dedicates 6 pages , extracts from my diary, tracing the Eurasian to Africa  migratory flyway of songbirds as a suspended space ( ISBN 978-2-84056-456-0).

Tending to the wild; the problem of nature conservation in the modern built environment. Often architecture excludes elements of nature and environmental conservation, as modern architecture/bird management perceives birds as pests. Countries via the Middle East flyway which also face human conflict view nature conservation as the least of their problems. ( 102 million are shot annually throughout the EU (facts given by CABS on http://www.komitee.de/en/projects/hunting-bags/bag-statistics-country)

In the Mediterranean every year, hundreds of millions of songbirds and larger migrant birds are killed for food, profit, sport, and/or general amusement. [Documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etlvWRMRPRQ#t=15 ]. Migrating Songbirds stop to rest during their migration journey through Syria-Lebanon, East of Cyprus and France amongst other countries. Ironically, these three countries consider one of these migrating songbirds, the Ortolan/Blackcap a delicacy. Chef Anthony Bourdain in his book “Medium Raw” describes the Ortolan as a life-altering meal, an old culinary French forbidden dish:

 The flames in the cocottes burn down, and the Ortolans are distributed, one to each guest. Everyone at this table knows what to do and how to do it. We wait for the sizzling flesh and fat before us to quiet down a bit. We exchange glances and grins and then, simultaneously, we place our napkins over our heads, hiding our faces from God, and with burning fingertips lift our birds gingerly by their hot skulls, placing them feet-first into our mouths – only their heads and beaks protruding.

Francis Mitterrand ate Ortolan for his last meal as he was dying.

In Cyprus, 16^th century English traveler, John Locke, recounts how he witnessed hundreds of bottles of pickled ambelopoulia (songbirds|Blackcap) being exported to Italy during a visit to the then Venetian ruled island in 1533.

Today, in Cyprus this delicacy still continues to thrive in the black market, in spite of a huge campaign against the methods of capturing them, luring them into lime-sticks and mist nets, with pre-recorded playback bird calls.

In April 2013, on my way home from the Suspended Spaces workshop, at the Beirut airport, I again witnessed hundreds of songbirds birds plugged and packed in the duty free fridges ready to be sold.

Eurasian bird breeding populations was perhaps sustainable in the past. The problem is that now new technology has vastly increased the harvest with the use of recordings playback technology. Songbirds sing intricate songs for mate attraction. One can find freely the so-called “Bird Sound” electronic equipment, which hold high quality recordings of bird songs and with a large diversity of hundreds different bird species sounds. They come complete with various sizes, colors and shapes of speakers/horns to help integrate with surrounding nature.  Even though “Bird Sound” electronic equipment is illegal to use for hunting purposes in the EU, it is nevertheless sold in stores with no questions asked. Hunters using “Bird Sound” can attract even the higher flying ones.

Part B

- Tin cone-shaped portable handmade loudspeaker of songbird mating calls.

An art intervention to punctuate the space. A sound installation of bird mating calls to attract migrating birds, to act as a sanatorium, a place of rest before their onward journey. A tin cone-shaped portable handmade loudspeaker of songbird mating calls. To be installed in “unresolved” spaces, even if temporarily.

A portable cylinder sound sculpture (welded from a rain duct galvanized tin metal sheet reminiscent of Cyprus old agriculture life). Hidden inside the cylinder is an illegal handmade amplifier made by local hunters to play high pitch song bird mating calls (via an mp3 player), to catch songbirds (αμπελοπούλι) which is a local delicacy. The male Ortolan song is a rich musical warbling, often ending in a loud high-pitched crescendo. It occasionally mimics the song of other birds; the most frequently copied is the Common Nightingale.

This portable sound sculpture, filmed in an abandoned World Export space in Nicosia, Cyprus-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpiu8t7e6A

Part C. Table with songbird mating call tin-cone suspended above the table. Installation consists of white table-cloth, bird nests, cutlery, wine-glasses, stools, poems inspired by the flight of birds, Information, maps of songbird flyways killing hotspots and artists diary.

A Voice-recorder with instructions for audience participation was also placed on the table.

A table re-union of poets and gallery visitors is placed in the centre of the space.

 Above the table is suspended the “songbird catcher”. The bird mating calls contextualizes the piece and draws viewers onto the table, much like the birds are by the mating songs.

The video of the abandoned World Export Centre is projected on the adjacent wall.

On the table are plates with handwritten local poems written on songbirds, bird nests filled with strips of lyrics from poems, cutlery, wine glassed and wine, and dozens of stools.

Over a glass of wine, viewers are asked to sit around the table and to share and record their thoughts on nature preservation and safe flyway routes.

Part D

- Video of chef cooking a three course meal with birds, domestic and wild.

-“In the path of a migratory flyway” was followed by “Requiem pour un oiseau rebelle”, an installation with video projection of a staged theatrical meal inspired by the death of Carmen.

Recettes chypriotes de volaille

Chef : Periclès Roussounidès

Soupe de poulet aux œufs et au citron

Ingrédients : Bouillon : oignion, céleri, carotte, poulet fermier, laurier, poivre en grains.

Poulet fermier, Sel, poivre, Οeufs, Jus de citro.

Faire un bouillon avec  d’oignon, de céleri, des morceaux de carotte, un demi poulet dépecé, et du laurier et du poivre en grains

Passer le bouillon

Battre énergiquement les œufs

Mélanger avec du jus de citron

Verser petit à petit le bouillon

Mettre sur feu doux en évitant l’ébullition

Découper le poulet en tranches

Placer dans une assiette creuse un des morceaux

Servir la soupe

Décorer avec une lanière de peau de poulet croustillante

Faire luire avec quelques gouttes d’huile d’olive

Œufs de caille aux silènes penchés

Ingrédients :Beurre, Huile d’olive, Sel, poivre, Œufs de caille, Tomates cerise,

Sumac, Silènes et feuilles de silène

Tapisser les parois d’une tasse à café de film transparent

Passer un peu d’huile d’olive sur le film

Casser l’œuf en entier dans la tasse

Faire cuire au four micro-ondes pendant 10 secondes

Faire revenir les silènes dans du beurre et de l’huile d’olive et saler, poivrer

Placer les silènes dans une assiette creuse

Retirer le film transparent de la tasse

Poser l’œuf de caille à l’aide d’une cuillère sur les silènes

Décorer avec des tomates cerise

Ajouter quelques gouttes d’huile d’olive

Saupoudrer le bas de l’assiette de sumac

Ajouter en dernier quelques feuilles de silène crues

Pigeonneaux à la sauce au vin

Ingrédients, Pigeonneaux fermiers, Sel, poivre, Oignon, Persil, Crépinette

Beurre, Huile d’olive, Vin rouge, Oignon haché, Fèves, Pommes de terre nouvelles

Sel, poivre, Thym

Rissoler dans du beurre et huile d’olives les pigeonneaux entiers

Les déposer sur du papier absorbant

Retirer les pattes

Hacher grossièrement la chair

Découper les pigeonneaux en retirant les os

Garder les os

Ajouter de l’oignon et du persil finement hachés

Saler, poivrer

Faire des boulettes

Etendre sur une planche

Enrober chaque boulette avec une partie de crépinette

Rissoler les boulettes

Enfoncer un os de patte sur chaque boulette

Faire revenir les os dans du beurre et de l’huile d’olive

Ajouter de l’oignon

Et du vin rouge et flamber

Ajuster l’assaisonnement

Ecraser les pommes de terre nouvelles cuites à la vapeur

Les rissoler

Assaisonner de sel, poivre et thym

Passer la sauce

Verser dans une poêle

Placer les morceaux de pigeonneaux et les boulettes dans la poêle

Laisser mijoter pendant quelques minutes

Servir dans une assiette les deux éléments

Garnir avec des fèves bouillies

Décorer l’assiette

Ajouter quelques gouttes d’huile d’olive

Dessert de votre choix…