Students
Deirdre Archbold / Murmuration
Murmuration is the act of murmuring. A murmur can be described as a low sound, almost like a rumble. To witness a Starling murmuration in real life, is to hear the subtle, collective beating of wings. Starlings roost communally for safety and for warmth. They gather in a large flock which starts relatively small but grows into the hundreds and sometimes thousands. Some starling roosts are packed with as many as five hundred birds per cubic metre. This enables birds to share body heat and communicate about good feeding grounds. The swirling, twisting and spiralling murmurations help the starlings avoid, distract and ward off predators. Evidence suggests that each starling in the flock communicates with just six or seven other starlings. Each group follows cues and copies movements in a process known as ‘scale-free correlation’. This propagates a wave-like movement which pulses through the entire starling flock creating a synchronised effect.
Murmuration is a durational performance that constructs physical and auditory representations of human/non-human forms of communication. Throughout the duration of the show, a large-scale graphic-score will be developed around the dynamic of murmuration, through a series of ‘whistling choir’ performances. Based on interviews with birds developed over the course of the MA Art and Environment, Murmuration explores the aesthetics of animacy in everyday life.
For more information see: www.deirdreartist.info
