Five-Foot-Tall Birds Coming to Lakeshore State Park
The flock lands June 20th with backing from Black Box Fund.
REbirth birds from Cracking Art. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Black Box Fund is bringing another large-scale art experience to Milwaukee.
The nonprofit commissioned Cracking Art to deploy a flock of 22 five-foot-tall birds in Lakeshore State Park.
“REbirth feels particularly meaningful to us in 2021. With global social, economic and climate upheaval, the idea of rebirth—or rethinking, recalibrating, redirecting—our relationship to one another and to nature have not been this urgent since the 1970s,” says the Milwaukee-based nonprofit’s website.
A variety of events are planned throughout the summer with live music and entertainment. Planned days include World Music Day (June 21st) and Social Media Day (June 29th). A full schedule is available on the Black Box Fund website.
Cracking Art bills itself as a “movement” that advances urban installations of large-scale animal sculptures made from recyclable plastic. Based in Italy, the group consists of artists Renzo Nucara, Marco Veronese, Alex Angi, Kicco and William Sweetlove. It is focused on advancing an understanding of natural and artificial reality.
“We primarily choose urban spaces rather than those dedicated specifically to art in order to trigger unexpected emotions, expel routine from everyday places, and allow for the reflection of a space with new eyes. Our hope is that this relationship can inspire creativity and a different point of view for observing the surrounding reality,” said Cracking Box in a 2018 interview.
You can get a preview of what the birds will look at the northwest corner of the intersection of N. Water St. and E. St. Paul Ave. Two birds were installed in the pocket park along the Milwaukee River.
Black Box Fund, created by Deborah Kern and led by executive director Marilu Knode, hosted the Under One Moon festival in 2019 that brought a hanging, 23-feet-in-diameter moon replica to Catalano Square in the Historic Third Ward. It also sponsored Sculpture Milwaukee’s extension into the Third Ward, the painting of Shepard Fairey‘s “Voting Rights are Human Rights” mural on the Colby Abbot Building and a series of other events.
Correction: An earlier version of this article said Cracking Art was based in Spain. The group is based out of Italy.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
Art
-
Winning Artists Works on Display
May 30th, 2024 by Annie Raab
-
5 Huge Rainbow Arcs Coming To Downtown
Apr 29th, 2024 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Exhibit Tells Story of Vietnam War Resistors in the Military
Mar 29th, 2024 by Bill Christofferson
this will be fun. i hope they won’t be pink.
Ugh! I love public art but this is way too much of a bad thing and completely incompatible with the beautiful natural landscape of our park. Twenty-two giant jarring eye sores. Thank heavens they will be gone at the end of summer.
As a long time birder I am appalled that this grotesque display is being installed at this location. Please someone get this contract cancelled at once!
As a long time birder I am appalled that this grotesque display will be installed at Lakeshore State Park. Please have this contract cancelled.
Wow people, public art isn’t your thing, is it? Kudos to BlackBox for their continued support for such projects. Appalled, grotesque, offended? Get a life!
What would public art be without it igniting a raging debate? Maybe the Blue Shirt should be included in this show.
I like that there are professional groups doing public art, but this is not my idea of an attractive or compelling installation. They could have been awesome floating in the lagoon, a bit similar to the huge hands reaching out of the river in Stockholm.
I’m relieved to be spending time debating art again. I think the pink is shocking but that’s great!
Love this, outstanding display down by the lake.