PigeonBlog (2024), photo by Juan Silverio.
PigeonBlog Launch and Workshop | Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics
Saturday, October 19, 2024, 2:30–4 PM
Launch begins at 2:30 PM, free and open to the public
Workshop begins at 3 PM, register here
Crenshaw Dairy Mart
8629 Crenshaw Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90305
Saturday, November 16, 2024 from 11 AM–1 PM
Workshop begins at 11 AM, register here
Launch begins at 12:30 PM, free and open to the public
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
4800 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028
Join LACE for reactivations of Beatriz da Costa’s landmark work, PigeonBlog (2006–08) as part of the PST ART exhibition, Beatriz da Costa: (un)disciplinary tactics. PigeonBlog is an interspecies collaboration between homing pigeons, artists, engineers, and pigeon fanciers to collect and distribute air quality data to the public. Collaborating with pigeons that carry custom-built miniature air pollution sensors, this work engages in grassroots data collection to investigate the use of interspecies co-production in the pursuit of resistant action. Following da Costa’s ethos around collaborative knowledge-building and engagement, this program expands beyond the gallery walls and into the city to revisit the work nearly 20 years later.
In partnership with Crenshaw Dairy Mart and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, PigeonBlog is reactivated with media archeologist and artist Leslie García and pigeon fancier Bob Matsuyama. The launch is accompanied by a workshop led by García, who will demonstrate how to build your own air pollution sensor. Guests are encouraged to observe in real-time the collected air pollution data through the PigeonBlog interactive map.
About the Workshop
The PigeonBlog workshop is dedicated to learning about city pollution, community efforts, and building your own pollution sensor device based on the artistic practice of the late Beatriz da Costa. Each participant in the workshop will receive a kit containing the components to build a sensor and monitor the data via their own personal laptop. PigeonBlog is based on the idea of learning, generating, and sharing autonomous data by and for communities.
Artist and Media Archeologist Leslie García will lead the two parts workshop, the first session is dedicated to the electrical components, through an online video where García explains the data sensors and their individual components, as well as an introduction to air pollution and the relation with Beatriz da Costa’s practice. The second on-site session (at CDM or LAMAG) is hands-on, where you build your own device, connected to your laptop, and shared network. Other resources will be provided on the theme of environmental justice, health issues, and interspecies collaboration.
SUPPORT
Southern California’s landmark arts event, PST ART, returns in September 2024 with more than 70 exhibitions from museums and other institutions across the region, all exploring the intersections of art and science, both past and present. Dozens of cultural, scientific, and community organizations will join the latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, with exhibitions on subjects ranging from ancient cosmologies to Indigenous sci-fi, and from environmental justice to artificial intelligence. Art & Science Collide will share groundbreaking research, create indelible experiences for the public, and generate new ways of understanding our complex world. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art.
Special thanks to the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural of Affairs for their support while LACE’s Hollywood Gallery is under renovation.