DOZENS PROTEST PIGEON PERFORMANCE AT BROOKLYN NAVY YARD
Dozens of protesters were in attendance of Duke Riley’s Sunday night performance art piece—during which he sends 2,000 trained pigeons into the night sky to circle above the Brooklyn Navy Yard—Andy Newman of the New York Times reports.
The demonstrators were calling for the show to be shut down. Titled Fly By Night, 2016, the public artwork, which was organized by Creative Time, opened on May 7 and is set to run every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until June 12. The activists said they would be present at every performance.
Riley has owned and looked after pigeons for most of his adult life. For the performance piece, he calls the birds with a whistle. They emerge from a boat docked at the Navy Yard in which they are housed wearing LED lights that are tied to their legs. He then signals to them by waving a trash bag, and the birds proceed to fly in a massive circle over the East River illuminating the night sky. Riley said the piece is a tribute to New York City’s long history of pigeon keeping. As the oldest domesticated bird, pigeons were traditionally used as messengers—and even avian soldiers during WWII when they were used to carry letters between navy ships at sea.
Animal activists are not pleased. A petition started on change.org has been signed by 5,000 people. They claim that the birds are being frightened by the flapping garbage bag, that it is unnatural for pigeons to fly at night, and that because of their poor night vision and the burden of wearing the lights, the birds could be hurt and perhaps crash into the East River. “There’s plenty of ways to create beautiful art without using unwilling participants who are forced to perform,” Nora Marino, who runs the Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund, said.
In response, Riley said that the performance does not hurt or disorient the birds. He added that they are also not forced to fly. Every night some pigeons can be found still nesting in their coops. While organizing the show, Creative Time asked wildlife rehabilitator Rita McMahon of Upper West Side’s Wild Bird Fund to inspect. “Mixing art and animals is a very risky business,” McMahon said, “but I was very impressed.” She said that the birds were well fed, properly housed, and exhibiting their usual behaviors of courting and mating.
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