Optilux | “Corneliu Miklosi” Public Transport Museum | Botanical Park

The Wayward Pigeon

The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon, used by humans to carry messages as it has an unusual ability to find its way home over long distances. These birds use a complex navigation method based on the position of the sun, wind currents and the Earth’s magnetic field to determine their own position. Agnieszka Polska’s The Wayward Pigeon is a messenger pigeon and it chooses which ideas to deliver. Hers is a war pigeon which fails to deliver the message as it is given, an individual who acts contrary to what is desired or expected. To stray from its path, it must disobey its own instincts.

This simple graphic character, made through manipulating existing photographic images, is a “Biennale mascot”, similar to sports mascots. But instead of representing nationalities or teams, it stands for collaboration and disobedience. It is a messenger which knows no borders, which can question unethical tasks—a “disobedient messenger” like the one present in previous works by Polska. Circulating on social media, and being present on stickers and banners in Timișoara since June 2019, the pigeon is a “competent agent”, to use a term from science theorist Donna Harraway. It is able to act in a socially- and ecologically-responsible way to help human beings follow the same lines.

 The Wayward Pigeon combines Polska’s interest in myths and dreams, bringing life to muted histories through the digital rendering of photography and film. Her work revolves around these mediums, their production and circulation under digital conditions but also their affective allure. ML