A Message From the Magpie

video, 06:15, 2020

During the 2019-2020 bush fires in Southeastern Australia, unprecedented in their destructive impact, the magpie bird began mimicking the sound of emergency sirens. This speculative report explores the implications of their clarion call birdsongs.
This work is a part of the “Repurposed Web Reports” Series: a series of “reports” composed entirely of media collected from the Internet. Using the web as an investigative archive, these works mine the margins of the public sphere for vicarious insights into the contemporary state of humanity.

Paul Turano (US)

Paul Turano, based in Boston, is a visual artist whose work in film, video, sound and new media. He incorporates lyrical observational strategies and meditations on personal space, as well as subjective reportage of marginal media events and long form essay films. He is currently an Associate Professor at Emerson College and has taught previously at Hampshire College, Massachusetts College of Art, Harvard University, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. His current creative focus is the exploration of our relationship to natural environments in both local and global ways.