ACID FOREST

Apocalyptic vibes in a wildlife reserve. Artist Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė has installed fixed cameras and microphones in order to observe a viewing platform on Lithuania’s Courland Spit peninsula inhabited by endangered and thus protected cormorants. Paradoxically, with their droppings the birds have managed to destroy their own habitat – the once lush forest is now nothing more than a motley assemblage of dead trees. Tourists from all around the world climb up here to get a glimpse of the dying forest and the scary-looking black birds. They voice their concerns, drop references to Alfred Hitchcock’s THE BIRDS, brainstorm more or less intelligent solutions to the dilemma (“If it were up to me, I’d just shoot every single one of these critters!”) or begin to wax philosophical about humanity and the environment. But who’s really watching whom? Seen from the bird’s eye view, the humans don’t make such a great impression either.