Birds in the Park - Christy Hengst
(Santa Fe Homes Blog) The Santa Fe Art Institute will soon be a host site to a migrating public project by Christy Hengst called “Birds in the Park.”
Made from porcelain with cobalt blue printing, these birds are like carrier pigeons, carrying images and text related to war and peace side by side. Inherent to this work is the question, “what kind of future do memories create?”
Layering newspaper articles and photographs from the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, with poetry and other evidences of the strength and depth of our common humanity, Hengst explores how we are connected, and also the unthinkable waysin which that bond is disregarded. For most citizens, as well as for Hengst, personal experience of this war has been
mainly through the media. It could be said that the media had a large role in the U.S. public’s acceptance of the decision to go to war. Thus this project also looks at how the invasion of Iraq was “sold” to regular people, and how discussions about the cold facts of war, weapons capabilities etc. can become detached from the human reality on the other end, creeping into everyday life as something normal, like birds in the park.
The birds will be appearing at many sites throughout the city of Santa Fe and the surrounding area (Los Alamos, Albuquerque) from through May. In the summer, the flock will fly out of state, with landings planned in San Diego, New Orleans, New York, Berlin, Barcelona and the Galapagos Islands.
Here is the upcoming schedule:
4/16/09 – Institute of American Indian Arts, 83 Avan Nu Po Rd., Santa Fe, NM
4/19/09 – Museum of Fine Arts, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, NM
4/21/09 – Santa Fe City Hall In between City Hall and Convention Center
4/25/09 – Rose Park, Galisteo St., Santa Fe, NM
4/29/09 – Upaya Zen Center, 1404 Cerro Gordo Rd., Santa Fe, NM
4/30/09 – La Farge Library, Llano St., Santa Fe, NM
5/5/09 – Santa Fe Clay / Railroad Tracks, 1615 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM
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