What if the birds aren’t singing, they’re screaming?
— Aldous Harding

Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird?
— Pablo Picasso

6 – 28 April 2024
MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre
Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1 C, 00180 Helsinki
Open: Tue-Fri 12-17, Sat-Sun 12-16

Opening of the exhibition Friday 5 April 2024 at 17-19. Welcome!

Humans have long been fascinated with the idea of being able to communicate with other animals. In the exhibition Songs of Love & Hate, we get to hear what the birds are singing about. It turns out that their concerns are sadly all too human.

They sing while lurking amid domestic furniture that is sprouting branches. The five birds sing in what seems to be a charming chorus. But the subtitles reveal that their voices are far from harmonious. The birds are no amoral and homogeneous group whose main purpose is to help us wake up in the morning. Instead, the birds are poisonous racists, broken victims and foul-mouthed protestors.

In fact, the birdsong in the show is a human voice that has been processed so that it sounds like a bird singing. Birds are not born with the capacity to sing – like human language, it must be learnt. Young birds mimic the song they hear. While some birds can imitate human speech, here, the table are turned and a human mimics birdsong.

The sound manipulation and singing were the result of the remarkable talents of Jonathan Cook (sound engineer) and Kate O’Sullivan (voice actor).

The work by Duncan Butt Juvonen has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).

Duncan Butt Juvonen is a British–Finnish artist who was born in Britain but has been living and working in Finland for around 20 years.

Duncan graduated with a distinction from the master’s programme of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2009, having studied his bachelor’s degree in the UK.

He has exhibited internationally in various galleries and national museums (in 13 countries), he has been awarded numerous awards and grants, and his works are in various collections (such as the Saastamoinen Foundation Collection and the Finnish State’s Art Collection).

www.duncanbuttjuvonen.com