National Museum of African American History and Culture Breaks Ground

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver (MCA) presents Thinking About Flying an exhibition on view through April 30, 2012.

Pigeon loft donated by Buzz Corcilius and redesigned for the museum by Pablo Garcia/POiNT. Homing pigeons courtesy Foothills Pigeon Racing Club.

Thinking About Flying is a project by artist Jon Rubin. For this project the MCA has been provided with a group of young homing pigeons to be cared for by the museum and trained by its visitors. Museum visitors are invited to participate by taking home a pigeon in a carrying case and releasing the pigeon to fly back to its loft on the museum’s roof. As this training process progresses the pigeons will travel distances increasing from a few blocks to over 400 miles.

By sharing in the responsibility of caring for the pigeons, the relationship between the visitors and the institution is made explicit and personal and a collective stake in the ongoing life of the artwork is initiated. At once poetic and practical, the temporary placement of the pigeons in visitors’ homes expands not only the artwork, but also the space of the museum itself. The traditional notion of an art museum is inverted as domestic spaces perform the function of temporary exhibition sites and the institutional space is cast as a domicile and caretaker. In this way the work maps the social and geographic relationship between the institution and its constituent audience.

Pigeons are available for loan Fri-Sun 2-5PM. The pigeon loft can be found on the roof. Pigeons are available for check-out to those living within 30 miles of MCA Denver.

MCA DENVER
1485 Delgany St
Denver, CO 80202
303 298 7554
www.mcadenver.org

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