Dániel Szalai

Modernism brought fundamental changes in the way we conceptualise the urban space, which resulted in the pigeons being perceived as nuisances or pests, as “rats with wings”. Through an investigation of the pigeon-related bureaucracy of the city of Vienna, the project, Stadtluft Macht Frei focuses on the political, scientific and technical apparatuses in which the modernist spatio-visual logic imposed on pigeons is being implemented and highlights their similarities to the means of oppression of social groups. At the same time, by turning a spotlight on the metaphor of “rats with wings”, the work connects its subject with the rhetorical framing of human groups on a contemporary and broader political horizon and raises awareness of stigmatization through animalization.

Following recurring discussions in the city parliament about the problems caused by pigeons, an international conference about the topic took place in Vienna in 2013. Based on the conclusions of the conference, the Animal Welfare Office of Vienna came out with a comprehensive pigeon concept, which was executed by the city government.

As a part of the program, a widespread information campaign about the earlier established prohibition of feeding pigeons on public spaces was launched, using a rat-headed pigeon as the posters’ protagonist, with the slogan, “Who Feeds Pigeons, Feeds Rats!”. Besides the campaign, an experimental pigeon loft was set up according to the so-called Basel Model of pigeon population control, which is based on the concept of gathering the pigeons in artificially created lofts and replacing the eggs they lay with plastic dummies. Parallel to the creation of the loft, the installation of spikes and nets have been continued around the city in order to further limit the resting and nesting sites available for pigeons, as recommended by the program of the Animal Welfare Office.

The work is an installation, housed in a roof like wooden structure, in which archive materials and manipulated photographs are presented as a slideshow, supplemented by audio recordings based on the pigeon-related discussions and legislation of the state and municipal councils of the city of Vienna.

Daniel Szalai (1991) is an Hungarian artist based in Budapest. He works on large-scale, photography-based projects. In his latest work, he focuses on human-animal relations, reflecting social, political and economic anomalies. Szalai mixes different media and also works with spatial installations. He studied photography at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and holds a bachelor’s degree in Art and Design Theory. In 2018, he became a laureate of the Carte Blanche award, was selected for the BredaPhto International Talent Program. He was awarded the Grand Prize at the Budapest Portfolio Review 2018. Daniel is a member of the Studio of Young Photographers, Hungary.