Poo Printer, 2011
Wood / Aluminum / Steal / Zebra Finches
Figure 1
A common idiosyncratic habit in all urban birds is their inevitable punk nature to shit over our most precious belongings. The author, in collaboration with a group of captive birds, is able to provide the guidelines to transform this countercultural attitude into a marketable product. For this task a flock of zebra fiches underwent a series of experimentsin order to research their physiological, mechanical and social dynamics. The result is called “Poo Printer”, an analog generative typography printer using the bird droppings as the particle substance that slowly generates the Latin alphabet characters over a large roll of paper.
The small birds are housed in a customized cage –similar to any birdcage found in a regular household. The cage provides them with all the standard comforts, but instead of straight perches for the birds to sit on, the cage is equipped with perches bent into letters. The birds feed and, inevitably, excrete while sitting on the letter shaped perches. The faces pile up on the birdcage floor, covered in a high quality paper roll, following the shape of the perches. Gradually, the birds´ excrements form letters on the floor of the cage.
The behavior of this birds explains how expressivity migrates from the body of the animal to the work of art. This introspective labor could be considered as the purest state of Art.
The concept of the Poo Printer lies in the fact that the printed letters are not produced by human handwriting, one of most rational cultural techniques. Rather it is ‘printed’ by an irrational activity, subject of nature. The birds participating in this process are surely unaware of the quality of the result they produce. The production process is based on the guidance of their human captor, transforming the birds´ natural urge of feeding and excreting into a meaningful process that cannot be appreciated by nature itself.
“This work of art can be interpreted as a trenchant and ironic reflection on the myths regarding the brilliant, nearly divine art process in the production of writing symbols. In other words, if an artist creates visual art without thinking but rather by emptying himself, the artist may be considered no more than a bird in a cage." Karen Appel
Art existed before the human existed, and animals are artists as well. Derrida understood animals as artists from other worlds, thereby representing a privileged subject of analysis.
Awards:
This project has been awarded with the price VIDA 14.0 - Fundación Telefónica.
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Poo Printer time-lapse