Local Branch
[2021]
Auckland Art Fair
Part of Present Tense, with Casey Carsel, Tanya Martusheff, Lucy Meyle, Elisabeth Pointon, Becky Richards, and Ashleigh Taupaki, organised by Micheal Do. Commissioned by Auckland Art Fair with support from Creative New Zealand
Local Branch uses a fallen bird’s nest as a starting point for considering how acts of care and attention can also inadvertently work to extract value.
The work dismantles the fallen nest, then the fibres and twigs are catalogued in a publication that invites audience members to apply for, receive, and relocate a specific twig to the applicant’s yard for use by neighbourhood birds during the 2021 nest-building season. During the Art Fair, a Local Branch will be present in branded attire, to hand out catalogues to passers-by, and to encourage them to fill out an application form.
Inverting the process of assemblage that the birds used to make the nest, the distribution of twigs counters the potential desire to retain the complete nest as a static, decorative object. Instead, Local Branch tries to consider the nest as a beautiful functional tool that is cyclically renewed, as a labour-intensive yet commonplace construction made from materials that can be dispersed and reused. At the same time, Local Branch uses the catalogue and the promotional display to introduce narratives around collection, extraction, and possession that are often features of human/non-human animal interaction.
Present Tense, interview text in The Art Paper
Local Branch Catalogue
Photo by Luke Foley-Martin
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fallen birds nest, stapled publication, wire stands, embroidered hat and t-shirt, website