Íslenskir fuglar

Icelandic Birds invite reflection on the oscillating boundaries of classification systems, about inclusion and uninvited guests, on human-animal relationships. The piece poses critical questions about man’s reluctance to change, why the new always seems to pose a threat while, at the same time, he desires the exotic. The piece has strong references to nationalism and addresses difficult questions on the development of society, about the myth of pure nations. Snæbjörnsdóttir and Wilson juxtapose stuffed birds from Icelandic nature against a posteter of exotic tropical birds, which in recent years have been imported into Icelandic homes as pets. The work flirts with oscillating definitions of past, present and future, the local against the global, nature against culture, the accepted against the taboo.