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Artist Craig Kao sees if an angry chicken can be calmed by some disco glitter |
Brave artist brings culture to chickens
Animals enjoy art therapy as St Martins graduate tries to bring a little calm to the farm
WHILE most galleries pride themselves on pristine white walls and the hushed, intellectual discussion of their visitors, Holloway’s latest art exhibition is more likely to inspire grunts and squawks from its guests.
For the past week, the animals at Freightliners City Farm in Sheringham Road have been enjoying a cultural renaissance.
As part of the “(three) range chicken” show – the work of a collaborative team of artists – pigs now rustle a modern art “pig satellite”, cows graze among snippets of dialogue and a vicious gang of chickens are privy to their very own form of art therapy.
Craig Kao, the show’s curator, said: “People in galleries intellectualise art into something increasingly metaphysical, but here art is a chair or a table – something practical.
“Artists bring an interesting collaboration to the space. It can have the facility to entertain other species.”
Mr Kao, 25, a recent St Martins graduate who lives at the Angel, said the chickens had found their own way to comment on the work.
“The chickens crap on my work. It’s weird for me because I’ve never let someone crap on my work before,” he said.
“It’s a different system, but I enjoy this way of working much more.”
Chicken Fly Rise, described by Mr Kao as “a device to change chickens’ lifestyles, features an intricate system of ropes, pulleys and brightly coloured objects – and a disco ball to entrance the troublesome fowl.
“It’s to try and distract them from killing each other,” he explained.
“This is the most violent set of chickens. There’s a very strong pecking order.
“The idea is to give them structure they’re not so familiar with. Usually they’ve got nothing to do. If they’re more busy finding food they’ll make them less aggressive on each other.”
The chickens must climb the structure to get to pieces of cabbage, dangling on bits of string attached to an old drum cymbal.
Another bird coop has a painting displayed at chicken eye-level, to give them “a little bit of beauty”, according to Mr Kao.
Also featured in the exhibition, which runs until Sunday, is a giant bird house, a DIY robot arm made from printer parts and props from a pound shop, and the world’s smallest chicken drumsticks.
There’s also the intriguingly titled “Pig and Cow satellite” – a football tied to a crutch which moves coloured streamers when the animals jog on it.
Not all the animals see the aesthetic merit of the art: the cows knocked one of the white bird houses down, while another got into a staring contest with a child’s tricycle painted like a cow.
Kirstie Forsyth, under-five’s play worker at the farm, said: “It’s really integrated into the farm well.
“People have really enjoyed it and the animals get even more attention than usual.” |
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