Vitto Valentinov

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE BIRD KIND was a proposal of an unrealized project for an Open Call by THE SINGER-ZAHARIEV FOUNDATION in 2021.

For the given place in the residence of Singer-Zahariev, I proposed to create a special encounter zone, inspired by the specific conditions. I wanted to make a stronger connection between people, the house and nature, by designing conditions for communication between the inhabitants of the home and bird visitors. The architecture of the given space - the transparent glass walls without a roof, with a direct connection to the sky, inspired me to imagine a meeting between the people and the birds of the area. My proposal was to build a simple geometric installation, which in itself is an aesthetic object, exciting for observation even in its calm state, when it is not "activated by the participants" - the visiting birds. This sculptural installation also has functional elements such as feeders and drinking bawls for the birds. In this way, they are invited as guests to the house, where they can feel the hospitality, and become regular visitors to the home of the Singer-Zahariev Foundation. This installation can be seen as a ritual object that makes a connection between two worlds - the world of humans and that of animals.