Organizers believe this is the first known instance of the bird nesting in such a prominent area of the exhibition grounds.
VENICE — A seagull nesting among the national pavilions of the Venice Biennale has become one of the exhibition’s most unexpected attractions. The bird has laid eggs outside Poland’s pavilion in the Giardini, prompting bemusement among visitors as photographs circulated online and in the art press.
According to the Biennale press office, organizers believe this is the first known instance of a seagull nesting in such a prominent area of the exhibition grounds. Officials said they only became aware of the situation after press coverage appeared and added that no formal guidance has been issued to visitors on how to interact with the bird or its nest. It is not known who has built a fence around the nest with a warning sign that reads “Attention! Bird Nest,” in both English and Italian.
Marta Carraro, 43, from Genoa, said it was “curious” and “unexpected” to witness the juxtaposition of crowds, artworks, and a bird that had seemingly claimed its own place at the Biennale.
Seagulls are not always beloved in Venice, where they are notorious for snatching pizza slices and sandwiches from pedestrians’ hands. At the Biennale, however, the bird has acquired the aura of an accidental artwork. Elisabetta, a Venice resident who declined to give her last name, said she found it “cute” and “sensitive” that a fence had been built around the nest.
Like many other national pavilions participating in a historic strike today, May 8, the Polish exhibition was closed in the afternoon. Without naming countries, a sign appended to the massive doors read, “We are not indifferent to the decision to include aggressor states in this year’s edition of the Biennale.” They encouraged everybody “to support the Ukrainian Pavilion.”
“Whether nature is healing, I don’t know,” Luca Orlandi, a 44-year-old artist and art director from Verona, told Hyperallergic about the seagull’s presence at the event. “But perhaps anthropization has gone too far; we are everywhere, and it is therefore inevitable that our systems continue to overlap with the ecosystem.”
