Zebra Finches

I waited exactly in the queue for exactly 2 hours and three minutes to see Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's exhibition featuring Zebra Finches at The Barbican. and spent approx 15 minutes in the exhibition, which wasn't exactly ideal. Still, i absolutely loved it. I had a feeling i would - hence my desperation see it before it came off yesterday.

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You enter the gallery via a darkened space; film reels of fingers playing guitar strings are projected on a grand scale on the walls - the contrast is so great the film looks like chalk drawn animation - lines in pink, white and blue. but the sound is muted; all you hear instead is the whirring of the projector slides which sounds like the crackling of wind at the sea side. the space then curves and opens up into the light, where the artist has filled the final third of the gallery space with an assortment of cymbals and electric guitars and a flock of zebra finches. zebra finches turn out to be incredibly cute and inquisitive little black and white birds with electric orange beaks, who swoop and dive about with dynamism and alacrity - no fear or concern about their gawping, intrusive audience. of course the point is that their landing on the instruments means they inadvertently 'play' them, resulting in bursts of random music, if you can call it that. I'd say you can, in fact, because it definitely feels like music rather than noise - even though it's quite plinky plonky. because the musical bursts are sporadic and vary in length, some of the more punchy 'tunes' result in impromptu rounds of applause. well, at least i initiated some - hang what everyone else did during their visits.

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It's a weird experience - it's feels very dramatic and yet also elicits a childlike glee as the birds zoom about, and land on you from time to time. you can't have any expectations as there's no official performance, but it does feel like a show. crossed with feeding time at the zoo. the overall effect is magical. you'd have to be a complete android with the sensitivity of a lamppost not to like it.