Beirut's 110 birdhouses
Beirut’s brazenly painted birdhouses, hung in the most improbable corners, struck me as otherworldly on a recent trip - oddly incongruous yet designed to delight.
I spotted a score of them strung vertically like a pop art vine against one of the city’s dingier buildings. They seemed as defiant as the Lebanese whom I had come to love: madly cheerful amid cycles of destruction. Who was dotting Beirut with these quaint, pint-size accommodations shaded with black Arabic arches?
My search led me to Danish artist Thomas Dambo who mounted his 110 Birdhouses in Beirut in early 2012, part of the Danish-Arab Urban Arts Festival. Dambo is a ten year veteran of this singular merry street art, having initially mounted 250 birdhouses in his hometown of Denmark.
Birds are the only wild creature living in cities that people have real contact with, and I wanted to make a bit easier for them,” said Dambo, 32, from his home in Copenhagen. “I wanted to draw attention to the disappearing wild nature in our cities.”
Why 110 birdhouses? I fit my designs to available materials,” explained Dambo who has strewn birdhouses throughout seven Danish cities. and is now eyeing Sweden. “It depends on how many cut lengths and patterns I can get out of the available wood with the least amount of trash. For this project – it was exactly 110.”
Dambo creates all of his projects from leftover materials, imitating birds, he said, who are “great at recycling.” Dambo’s core conviction: “You can always make stuff last longer.”
Most of Dambo’s birdhouses were placed in Beirut’s popular Hamra neighborhood among buildings, and against trees and utility poles. He likes to amass many houses in one area, and scatter smaller groups elsewhere.
I built these after classic Lebanese houses,” said Dambo, who attends Kolding School of Design. “They have Arabic style arches, and on the top, a design of two birds joining together, which symbolize two cultures – Danish and Lebanese – coming together. And with a birdhouse, it’s two birds coming together and having kids. So it’s basically a love story.”
Dambo’s genius: creating public art that appeals to the masses - Some birds have taken up residence in the houses - at least those that have remained in place. “Some people take them down, take them home,” said Dambo. “That’s actually a good thing,” since birds might take up residence more readily in backyards, than on busy streets.
Some policemen in Beirut helped Dambo hang his creations. “If I put up a poster with a big skull on it, police will arrest me and give me a fine,” he said. “If you create public art in a way that appeals to people in a positive way, they won’t perceive it as an illegal act.”
Some residents required certain colors to match their political associations explained Dambo: “Someone would say, ‘Oh, can I have the yellow one instead’ because it went with their political party. It was intense. They’d tell me which colors were okay to put next to each other.”
Dambo concluded that his project has wider ramifications about “living together,” whether that phrase entails birds and humans or humans and humans - no matter their color or color preference.
Dambo created a quirky rap video of his 110 Birdhouses project. You can also view a video of his Demark project.
- Photos by Thomas Dambo -
