Pigeons, crows, and sparrows are often considered marginal birds that harm the city. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade addresses this issue by deterring such birds with recordings of predator calls. The museum doesn't want marginals, including feathered ones. This becomes the starting point for the project "Breakfasts on the Grass." In this project, the artist draws subtle parallels between the precarious lives of birds and those of artists.
Pigeons are birds that have gone feral twice. Domesticated in ancient times, they lost their importance to humans with the advent of the telegraph. Today, the main role of the remnants of pedigree carrier pigeons is drug trafficking, while the non-pedigree ones have been relegated to the status of parasites. In a sense, artists are also parasitic—we need patrons and charitable foundations, those who give us the excesses of their prosperity. Most people involved in art remain outside major institutions and lead quite precarious lives.
The ancient Greek etymology of the word "parasite" is "one who eats at the table of another," someone with whom we share the excesses of our material wealth. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the central action in this work is a picnic. The artist holds picnics together with urban birds, primarily viewing them as acts of equal interaction, solidarity between an outsider and other outsiders. During the interaction, the artist practically loses her boundaries, blending with the flock of birds.
The video documentation is accompanied by the artist's narration, where the history of art intertwines with the history of bird domestication, revealing a unique perspective on history as a whole.
