The pigeon is a nasty bird. Sooty, dingy, generally unpleasant to behold. But right now, as part of the currently underway Venice Biennale contemporary art festival in Venice, Italy, the city’s unsightliest tourist attraction (its plethora of pigeons) has been given a stunning makeover.
Artists Julian Charriere and Julius von Bismarck devised a rooftop pigeon-painting apparatus to spruce up some of Venice’s flying verman. The bird flies into the apparatus grey and drab-looking, then it is sent down a conveyer belt and automatically airbrushed with vibrantly coloured spray paint before it’s sent back out into the world looking more exotic parrot than common city pigeon.
“Some Pigeons are More Equal Than Others” (as it is called) may not be the most PETA-friendly project, but it certainly is beautiful to behold. [PSFK]