RE-ANIMATED is based on the last Kauai’O’o bird, whose 1987 death marked the extinction of its species. In 2009, its mating call was uploaded to YouTube. Since then, the song of the Kauai’O’o calling hopelessly to a mate has been played almost a million times. RE-ANIMATED is a reimagining of the bird and its song, which here inhabit a distorted reconstruction of the bird’s original habitat.
RE-ANIMATED meditates on our paradoxical techno-scientific trajectory. The virtual landscape is both an entrancing ecosystem and a biotechnological laboratory for a resurrected, monstrously-scaled bird. It provokes fresh perspectives on our ecological future, which is now at odds with our present reality.