Birds on guitars, in the zebra finch sound art of Céleste Boursier-Mougenot

Sound artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s “from hear to ear” is on view in Lisbon, Portugal at the moment. So let’s take a moment for zebra finches playing guitars and other sonic installations driven by elements from nature in the work of this artist from Nice, France (now in Sète).

The concept is simple but literally comes alive in its realization. (Above and still at top, 2014 at Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, USA).

From Lisbon’s MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, a description of his signature work:

In this piece, visitors are invited to walk through a room filled with some twenty electric guitars played by unusual performers: zebra finches – small birds that perch freely onto the instruments. More than a simple sound installation, the work is above all an invitation to align one’s perception, movements, and behavior with those of these winged performers. Two worlds within a single space are united in the resonances of music that never ceases to unfold.

I mean, obviously, from kids up to the most discerning art critics, really all you need to say is “oh my god it’s a room full of birds playing guitars!”

Each realization has been different; you get a “system” of instruments, and all the variability of the birds. It’s tremendously open-ended. Here’s the artist talking about the work:

perturbations is a ghostly, enchanting work, as well, directly engaging the music object:

It’s a poor-quality video, but I include here just in the hopes that playing keyboards with your butt will catch on.

Clinamen is a mesmerizing, meditative work with floating bowls, and another fan favorite.

With discussion by the artist from the Park Avenue Armory, New York version:

Perhaps the most striking realization is beneath the rotunda at Bourse de Commerce, which provides not only a remarkable architectural setting, but unique acoustics: