Filmoteka Muzeum

To Trees and Birds was an installation carried out in 1994 in the courtyard of Warsaw’s Academy of Fine Arts. According to the differentiation introduced by Hansen, the symmetrical yard lined with trees was a perfect example of the Closed Form. Hansen decided to break the rigidity of the space with bands of grey and coloured canvas, which was stretched asymmetrically between the opposite buildings.

The gesture transformed the space into an Open Form background – it highlighted the human traffic in the courtyard, the silhouettes of individual trees and the variety of their forms and textures, as well as the mutual relations occurring in that space. The grass was also emphasised by means of a round canvas frame hanging above the lawn. References to birds included nest boxes and Paweł Szymański’s piece Under a Sycamore, playing in the background.

(reference: Towards Open Form / Ku Formie Otwartej, ed. J. Gola, Foksal Gallery Foundation, Revolver, Warsaw 2005)

                                                                                                                             (AK)