»Two Homes« is based on found footage films, showing the life of a bird from the perspective of a Japanese woman at home. Prompted by hand signals, the little parrot performs complex tricks, lets itself be petted for several minutes or gets involved in a game with a ball. Night recordings show the animal sleeping in its nest. From a selection of different sequences, a daily routine was constructed, in which play alternates with learning and cuddling. At the end of the day, the evening song is sung.

In the two channel video, the close-up sequences, filmed without tripod from the perspective of the woman, encounter a static wide camera angle. The latter shows the closed complex of a poultry-breeding factory farm somewhere in the country; in the background, wind turbines are rotating. While the gaze of the viewer involuntarily focuses on the house pet – on its intelligence, its joyful play and its trusting nature – the image of the factory complex, in which nothing appears to be happening, gradually dissolves. Both image tracks are acoustically connected through an evening song, a classical poetic form, devoted to the end of a fulfilling day. All animals, also the wild ones, find their way home in this song.

»Two Homes« is a reflection on human-animal relations in the 21st century – on our relationships with priviliged animals, whose cognitive abilities we find fascinating and whose confidingness affects us, and on our relationships with animals that we keep hidden from view.

Credits: Parrot Video Footage, Bluepearly03 | Abendlied, Song and Lyrics by Hanns Dieter Hüsch | Organ, Johannes Sandberger

2013  Two channel video, HD, 9:50 min, colour, sound