Bird’s Nest, Berlin

Ruine der Franziskaner-Klosterkirche in Berlin, 2002

In an exhibition in the 12th century cloister ruins close to Berlin Alexanderplatz, Andersson decided to make a new version of the Bird’s Nest installation in Retretti Art Center in Punkaharju. The beautiful ruins of the medieval cloister church, with ornamented brick walls, invited for a work commenting on the sacral space.

The Bird’s Nest Berlin is constructed with identical triangular “tree stick modules”, referring to the modernist way of building. But Andersson used the module to create a seemingly chaotic structure to symbolize a more free and “natural” approach to architecture. Visitors can sit down on seats inside the nest and meditate on the surrounding ruins through the nest’s wooden pattern.

A sound installation by sound artist Shawn Decker, who has collaborated with Andersson in many projects, distinguishes this Nest from the earlier one. Decker makes a subtle reference to the sounds, which probably took place in the church during medieval times. He uses medieval songs, which he slows down and cuts in pieces recombinating them in different ways, as a starting point for his work. On top of this he puts transformed sounds of birds. Four speakers placed on the lower part of the nest make the sound totally surround the visitors inhabiting the nest.