Jan-Erik Andersson & Shawn Decker: Bird’s Nest Uppsala (Sweden), Resonating Bodies exhibition 18.6.–11.9.2022
A new version of the Bird’s Nest projects by Jan-Erik Andersson and Shawn Decker was a part of the Resonating Bodies environmental exhibition in Uppsala Art Museum during the summer of 2022.
The first Nest was built in Retretti Art Centre in 2001 and since that, different Nest structures, with different sound worlds, have emerged in for example Chicago, Wakefield, Berlin, Helsinki, Hyvinkää, Tammisaari, Porvoo and Turku.
This Nest consists of 200 identical wooden triangles. Andersson sees the triangle as a module. The concept of the module has been widely used in modernist architecture, resulting in monotonous buildings with repeated patterns. In the Bird’s Nest-structure, however, the arrangement of the triangular modules in a semi-chaotic manner creates a space which is more organic – and rooted in structures and ways of constructing found within natural systems.
Decker’s kinetic sound work is likewise derived directly from natural processes. The artists see these acoustic and kinetic elements functioning as architectural ornamentation, broadening of the concept of the “ornament” to include sound and rhythm.
In Uppsala the Nest is connected to the museum’s café. Visitors are invited to sit down by tables inside the Nest and experience the transparency of the structure and how it allows the historical surroundings of Uppsala to be a part of the experience.
