from: Nieuwe Domein, Sittard (NL)
to: Art au Centre, Liege (BE)
Pigeons are our oldest companion species. Since we first domesticated them more than 10.000 years ago pigeons have been considered symbols of peace, war heroes, hunted pests, and sacred messengers. Once our technological advancements substituted the pigeon´s service, we discarded them. Now the pigeon roams our streets alongside us, living in and off our dirt – depending on our infrastructures.
The pigeon´s ambiguity reflects the seemingly contradicting ways in which we share spaces – with each other and other species.
This flagseeks to capture the double standards and the contradiction of how we relate to pigeons (other species), and each other – how we pick and chose who has access to which space and under which circumstances. We see the circle of stars of the EU flag scattered – a circle that includes and excludes. And a pigeon cast from white wax and mixed with street dirt – a symbol of peace and dirty pest.
Helena is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher. Her work spans large-scale multimedia installations, performance, painting, and objects/ sculptures. Most recently, Helena intervenes with her flock of wax-cast pigeons to invite open-ended questioning of the ambiguous ways in which we share (urban) spaces.
The flag is part of Helena´s ongoing artistic research on The Great Misunderstanding. Through the lens of the pigeon, she researches the seemingly contradicting ways in which we share urban spaces with each other, other species, and our inanimate environment. Born in UK, Helena grew up in Vienna, Austria. She is based between the Netherlands and Vienna. Helena is a recent graduate of interdisciplinary Arts (iArts) at the Maastricht Institute of Arts.