2024 Video Installation, 4K Video, 65:00 min, colour, sound, Videobox 257 x 233 x 80 cm.

The scientific collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, comprises 10 million animals, including 150,000 birds. The 113 grey parrots in the collection date from the colonial period up to the 1980s. Stored in drawers and labelled, they became objects governed and managed by science.
Hörner/Antlfinger visited the birds over several years, for the first time in 2021. In a conversation with two experienced animal communicators, which was facilitated by anthropologist Dr Vanessa Wijngaarden, Hörner/Antlfinger learned that the ancestors played a significant role in the lives of the parrots and that they regarded the taxidermied bodies of their ancestors as very important. They should not be hidden away in a drawer but wanted to be seen in order to be able to affect people.
Hörner/Antlfinger accepted this assignment. In autumn 2023, they began filming portraits of the birds — showing each body in its individuality to give future viewers the opportunity to spend time with them, respectively their spirits, and become present with them.

Filmed in the archives of the scientific collection of the Royal Museum of Central Africa Tervuren.

Credits:
Direction Hörner/Antlfinger
Camera Rikisaburo Sato
Steadycam Mathias Antlfinger
Sound recording Sunjha Kim
Geophone recording Ute Hörner
Script Ute Hörner
Voice Kate Dervishi
Translation Lisa James
Editing Sunjha Kim
Color Grading Rikisaburo Sato
Sound Design Pascal Dreier

For their kind support and the trustful collaboration, we thank Annelore Nackaerts – Manager of the bird collection and Christine Bluard – Curator and project manager of artistic development at the Royal Museum of Central Africa Tervuren.

For inspiring joint research and collaboration in the field of Intuitive Interspecies Communication, we thank Prof. Vanessa Wijngaarden, University of Johannesburg and University of Liège.

Finally, we would like to extend our gratitude to the initiators of this project, the African grey parrots, for the time they have graciously spent with us and for all that they have shared.

Funded by Kunststiftung NRW, Capital Cultural Fund Berlin, Academy of Media Arts Cologne.