The Bird Of A Thousand Voices
The Bird Of A Thousand Voices
The Bird of a Thousand Voices:
A Transmedia Art Installation (2024) / Architectural
Measurements: 12m00 x 7m00
Material: custom mechanism, fabric, tungsten light
The object is part of the scenography in the eponymous performance with music by Tigran Hamansyan, which premiered in the Holland Festival on June 8, 2024, directed by Ruben van Leer.
The mythological bird appears in many different cultures and often symbolises resurrection and awakening. In the Armenian tradition, its power is found in its song. In order to find the Bird of a Thousand Voices, “the path of no return” must first be taken through black, white and red worlds with endless deserts, cold mountain winters, turbulent rivers and hunted by condemnations, betrayal and forty-headed demons...
This sculpture — like the search for the magical firebird by protagonist Areg (named after the light of the sun), and Da Vinci’s sketches of a dream machine to make human kind fly — is about the relationship between illusion and the thing you choose to believe in.
“In the wings, you might also see a Da Vinci machine, a mechanical structure that mimics nature and captures the human desire to fly. The same ambivalence between the natural and the artificial can be found in the music: in the pure sounds of the instruments versus the distortions of the synthesizers and the mixing consoles that Hamasyan manipulates.” — Mina Etemad
Motor-controlled installation of aluminum and transparent fabric.
Installation by: Boris Acket
Inspired by the album by: Tigran Hamasyan
Visual artist: Ruben van Leer
Creative engineer: Merijn Versnel
Production: Truth.io
Supported by the Mondriaan Fund