
Pigeons Are Not Allowed - 2
2022 | Concrete, Bird Spikes, Cigarette, French Fries, Sliper | 25’’ x 25’’ x 2.5’’(LxWxH)

This piece confront the
negotiation between humans and city birds. The artist’s curiosity to the
purpose of the spikes on elevated train station inspired an inquiry about how
birds manage to survive the urban environment. Tentative confrontations between
birds and human are fantasied as different stages: birds adapt the city after
their natural habitats were taken; human designed bird spikes to prevent them
from damaging the iron structure; they get around the spikes by building nest
over the spikes, smaller-size or bigger-size birds could easily join the
ecosystem as those spikes are not designed for them.
Seemingly green-grass-like bird spikes renders
a paradoxical coexistence of harmlessness and dangerousness. If installed outdoor,
they potentially tricks birds and harm them, requiring them to recognized the new
spikes. In reality, bird spikes act like a message that says pigeons are not
allowed, it doesn’t work though, it in turn raises a series of questions: Are pigeons
really not allowed here? Are other birds allowed? Are humans allowed?
The concrete piece indicates an absurd
confrontation between birds and human. It ambiguously answered some questions by
imagining a roadside scenario where pigeons happened to step on wet cement and
walked towards a bag of spilled French fries. Birds’ footprints and the inverted
slipper shout out the existence for their owners and seemingly claiming their territory
over the concrete slab manufactured by human.


