Berglin’s bird homage to Audubon
Image credit: Erik Berglin from The Bird Project
The Swedish photographer artist Erik Berglin, who is one of the headliners at the festival center, is giving a very special birdwatching tour in collaboration with Dansk Ornitologisk Forening (Danish Ornithology Association) on Vesterbro 2 June. The artist will take us scouting for exotic birds on the urban walls of Vesterbro. The tour and urban bird exhibition is part of the artist’s 12 year long The Bird Project that has rewilded cities across the globe with life size exotic birds.
Join us for a unique and exotic birdwatching tour of Vesterbro Friday 2 June when one of the festival headliners is taking us for a rewilding tour of Vesterbro spotting exotic birds on the city walls.
Over a period of twelve years the Swedish photographer artist Erik Berglin wheat-pasted hand cut photographs of birds in cities all around the world and now in connection with his exhibition at Copenhagen Photo Festival he has done the same thing in Vesterbro.
Rewilding cities across the globe with life size birds
For The Bird Project each bird is made in natural size and placed in a carefully selected location and then documented by the artist. In total Berglin placed no less than 4982 photographs of birds that were wheat-pasted in twelve cities all around the world.
“I sourced ornithology books in antiquarian bookshops and libraries. Suitable images were scanned, edited and reprinted. A few years into the project I learned about the American ornithologist John James Audubon’s monumental book Birds of America, from 1838,” Erik Berglin explains.
Inspired by Audubon’s Birds of America
“I was fascinated to learn that Audubon had also worked with bird illustrations in scale 1:1 (just like I had been doing on facades). It had taken Audubon 12 years to complete his book, so I decided to turn my project into an homage to Audubon and keep it going for 12 years and then I made a book with the same dimensions as Birds of America (100x 70 cm).”
“Remember to bring binoculars”
For the 2 June tour Eric Berglin will take us through the streets of Vesterbro to spot out the more than 20 exotic birds in life size around Vesterbro. During the tour he will talk about the species we find, about their natural habitat and his project rewilding the cities around the world. The project combines ornithology, storytelling and street art/street photography the photographer explains and for the tour he reminds participants: “Remember to bring binoculars”.
The Bird Project is supported by Vesterbro Lokaludvalg and Dansk Ornitologisk Forening.
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What: Art tour in Vesterbro with photographer Erik Berglin
Where: The tour takes off from Naturbutikken, Vesterbrogade 138, 1620 København V (home of Dansk Ornitologisk Forening)
When: 2 June 4.30-5.15