AVIARY, Tate St Ives’s Winter Light commission 2021, is a virtual, data-driven environment by artist Sammy Lee. The computer-simulated birds are projected onto the ceiling of Tate St Ives’s entrance every evening and streamed online 24/7.
The digital birds are directly connected to the state of our planet. Their flocking behaviours are determined by environmental events as they happen across the globe. From distant earthquakes to local flooding, real-time data capture nature’s order and entropy. The flight patterns of the birds respond unpredictably as digital information filters in.
As symbolic carriers of information, cautionary tales, and wandering souls, each bird species has been selected for its historic and mythological association with Cornwall and the UK.
Accompanying AVIARY 360° on YouTube is a soundwork by Ebe Oke and Robert M. Thomas. Oke and Thomas have resampled bird sounds from across the world, applying machine learning and generative algorithms to create an infinite and non-repeating soundscape.
Sammy Lee is a Canadian-born Korean artist based in London. Spanning large-scale audiovisual artworks, CGI film, simulation, and light installation, her process seeks to create complex visceral worlds that can be encountered across a range of formats, from the screen, to live immersive experiences to site-specific architectural interventions. Her most recent body of work focuses on narratives of 21st century globalisation through the lens of cultural technology, capitalist discipline, cosmology, and bureaucracy. Her solo and collaborative works have been exhibited and commissioned internationally, including Barbican Centre, Southbank Centre, MUTEK Montreal, Sonar+D Barcelona, London Design Festival, Roundhouse and Nuit Blanche Paris.
AVIARY was developed in collaboration with Clifford Sage (Visual Production); Ebe Oke and Robert M Thomas (Livestream Soundscape); Off World Live (360° Livestream and technical support); JHAV (AV Production). With thanks to M.J. Harding.
AVIARY is realised with funds awarded to Tate St Ives as winners of the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.