© Sara Sze / BONO Photo: © Ivar Kvaal
Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat)
- Date 2011
- Unveiled 2013
- Material Stainless steel, aluminium
- Dimensions 274 x 671 x 64 cm
«How do you make a piece that as a sculpture is really interesting, so that it is more than just a habitat, more than a bird feeder or a bird house?»
Photo: © Ivar Kvaal
Sara Sze
(b. Boston, United States, 1969)
Sze graduated from Yale University with a BA in Architecture and Painting (1991), and a MA in Art from the Yale School of Visual Arts (1997). She has exhibited internationally, at major institutions such as The Whitney Biennial (2000) and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York (2023). In 2013, she represented the United States at the 55th International Biennial in Venice with the exhibition Triple Point. She has made numerous public installations worldwide, and is represented in collections such as Tate, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and Museum of Modern Art, New York. In addition to her own practice, she is a professor of visual arts at Columbia University.
Still Life with a Landscape (Model for a Habitat) might well have been conceived for a park. Birds and insects thrive in the steel construction, and the spectator is taken in by a sculptural environment in dialogue with nature. The placement of the work on either side of the path frames it like an archway would.
Sarah Sze is preoccupied with the interactions between the public and works of art. Her installations are often placed in such a way that they are made accessible close up. Given enough time, sculptures placed outdoors will change in character, just as they will change their appearance in different seasons of the year. The artist defines her outdoor works as an interesting form of experiments.
Sarah Sze is a multimedia artist known for her complex installations consisting of hundreds or thousands of parts, often made of found materials. Her interest lies not in the sculpture as a finished work, but as an ongoing process. After they are installed, her works continue their development and change their character over time. Spectators become part of this process as their physical presence influence the work.
Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat) consists of two intricate constructions of steel rods and steel wire, resembling a three-dimensional perspective drawing or an architectural model. The structure has been colonised by bird boxes, insect boxes, bird baths, and bird tables, where seeds and fruit are placed. Consequently, the sculpture has been given a practical function outside of the aesthetic. It functions as a bird- and bug-observatory. The bird boxes are metal but painted with a graining technique—imitating the surface of tree trunks where the growth rings of the tree are emphasised.
In 2011-12 another version was installed in The High Line Park in New York. The work was awarded the AICA Award for Best Project in a Public Space.
Guided tours
Learn more about Still Life with Landscape (Model for a Habitat) and many of the other artworks in the collection with our art mediators. We offer guided tours for private groups all year round.