For the Humans

It was peak migration season, and the abundant native and migratory birds at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden seemed largely indifferent to the aesthetically daring “homes” that made up the garden-wide installation For the Birds. Artists, designers, and architects crafted the thirty or so birdhouses from a panoply of materials, including ceramic and found objects. As an exercise in architectural miniatures and sculpture, the designs were playful, yet few stood out as actually hospitable for their intended avian tenants. While an assumption that birds would simply nest in any available cavity curtailed the utility of most of the works, it made them no less pleasant to encounter in the gardens. In that way, For the Birds was, well, very much for the humans.