strange kinships

Strange Kinships - First Chapter: Introduction

When the Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart moved to its new building, some old books were given away for free. Among outdated schoolbooks, classic novels, and worn cookbooks, a heavy old volume titled Treatise of the Common Pigeon caught our attention. It was accompanied by dusty audio tapes and contained hundreds of pages of handwritten notes, drawings, and diagrams - created by a group of researchers from the 1860s. The group called themselves Strange Kinships. As the title of the book suggests, they were devoted to observing and understanding the birds we see in cities every day: how they move, how they communicate, how they fly.

While we don’t really know who the members of this group were, in this audio walk we would like to offer insights into a fascinating document of a group of humans trying to get close to another species’ internal world. As you listen to our audio walk, you’ll catch glimpses of the group’s (sometimes surprising) research - while observing the pigeons around you.

There are four short audio tracks to listen to, each located at a different point on and around Marienplatz, shown on the map we’ve provided. You can begin the walk now by starting the next chapter and listen as you slowly make your way toward location 3.