Alasdair Asmussen Doyle
Throughout the Covid-19 lockdowns of November and December 2020, Alasdair began observing the murmuration that takes place at Albert Bridge, Belfast. This culminated in filming the birds on 16mm photochemical film on the 31 December, the final date of UK’s 11-month Brexit transition period. The term ‘murmuration’, finds its origins in the Latin murmurare, meaning ‘hum, muttering rushing’, and entered English via Old French, where it signified, ‘sound of human voices, trouble or argument’. While murmurations have long been a subject of interest, there remains little understanding of how they function, and ultimately how they collectively coordinate and position themselves in relation to one another. The birds that migrate to Northern Ireland each winter descend from Northern Europe, escaping the cooler weather in favour for milder temperatures and easier access to food. Their migratory pattern reveals mainland Europe’s close presence to Northern Ireland, and a continual flux of lifeforms between these two spaces, despite the recent political severing.
Philosopher Vinciane Despret suggests that the Covid-19 lockdowns have offered a rediscovery of something that we had forgotten; that we are not alone in this world. Moreover, she describes the idea that humans don’t share the same language as non-human animals as an “anthropocentric illusion”, and that it is up to us to learn from the other. With this in mind, murmurs aims to consider what a sustained observation of the Belfast’s murmurations may offer in reflecting upon contemporary geopolitical conditions. Thinking about the bridge as a site where multiple languages co-mingle, the project proposes an engagement with this intermediary space between geographical bodies, and human and non-human animals.
This new work assembles, inter alia, 16mm film footage, a textual body that includes both creative reflection and ongoing discussions conducted with ornithologists, audio recordings and drawings.
To view the full commission please follow the link below