"Breadcrumbs are thrown into the ocean and attract seagulls." (Edward Fry 1972)

“In 1965, Hans Haacke, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Günther Uecker designed [Life Airborne System], a sculptural open-space ensemble for Zero on Sea at the pier of Scheveningen (Netherlands) consisting of barrels with oil fires on rafts, buoys as mobile sculptures, messages in bottles with Zero messages, silver skin on the water, smoke objects and a floating feeding station for seagulls, whose flight formations and mass Hans Haacke understood as "seagull sculpture". With this project, which was not realised until 1968 at Coney Island (New York), Haacke turned his attention to biological systems after his first abstract paintings, reliefs and physical process works. Sequences of the action are shown in the film Hans Haacke Self-Portrait of a German Artist in New York (1969).” (Text: Ursula Ströbele, Kunst Natur Politik, ZI Munich 2019/2020; Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach 2020).

▶ Artwork: Life Airborne System, 1965: planned, 30.11.1968: realised, Coney Island, New York, Loan by Ursula Ströbele, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich
▶ Venue: Association pour la Sauvegarde du Léman

▶ Scientific collaboration: Association pour la Sauvegarde du Léman