Avian anxieties

Holding a mirror up to human nature, Decadent Pigeons asks whether the quest for prosperity and freedom is making us like grey, bored and scandalous birds.

Decadent Pigeons, a project by photographer Lisa Klappe and spatial artist Joachim van den Hurk, explores the decay, boredom and slackness that can be observed in many people, arguing that this “blatant decadence” is the price we pay for prosperity and individual freedom.

By holding up a mirror to human nature, Decadent Pigeons exposes similarities between the behaviour of human beings and that of pigeons. The project visualises the argument that if people carry on living the life of decadence we will end up exactly like those birds, “grey shadows, dismally bored and scandalously discontented”.

Disturbing at times, Decadent Pigeons includes photographs, sculptures, installations and films that all force us to confront this almost dark side of human nature. A dark humour and perverse undertones makes Decadent Pigeons a project that questions the very notion of individual freedom.

Decadent Pigeons can be seen at Studio Kiki van Eijk & Joost van Bleiswijk in Eindhoven, Netherlands from 22 to 30 October 2011.