The Mirrored Catalogue d‘Oiseaux, 2002-2006
Aviary, mockingbirds, CD recording, hi-fi equipment
In 1959 the French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed the ‘Catalogue
d‘Oiseaux‘. Thirteen pieces for solo piano based on his interpretation
of natural birdsong. Each of the thirteen pieces deals with a specific bird,
along with some other birds in the background that are found in the same
area. He‘d compose in the birds‘ natural habitat of field, meadows
etc., writing his notation as he listened.
This process of direct composition was reversed/mirrored in playing back
Messiaen‘s to an aviary housing mockingbirds. Mimicking the songs of
other birds the mockingbirds would, in theory, tonally mimic Messiaen‘s
interpretation of birdsong and his ‚in the field and by ear‘ process
of composition. Natural birdsong is adapted by Messiaen for his composition
and the mockingbirds return it again to the natural, in a modified form.
Halle
für Kunst, Lüneburg, 2002
The Power Plant,
Toronto, 2005
Dundee Contemporary
Arts, 2006