Kuckucksuhr

In collaboration with Cole Swanson

Wood, paint, sheer fabric, pine cone bird seed ornaments, UV light installation

240" x 72" x 74"

2016

Created for in/future at Ontario Place

Jennie Suddick and Cole Swanson’s Kuckucksuhr is an architectural intervention that transforms the watchtower of Ontario Place’s Wilderness Adventure log ride into a cuckoo clock. Using seeds and light to beckon migratory bird species to the installation, Suddick and Swanson reimagine the passage of time in natural terms—rather than a robotic cuckoo, the migratory species that move through and feed off the structure come to represent hourly cycles. Conceived as a critique of human conceptions of progress, Kuckucksuhr questions the human-made nature-scape of Ontario Place, reflecting on the desire to control, tame, and represent nature. Re-signifying the watchtower as a space of natural transition and reclamation, Kuckucksuhr creates an opportunity for complex natural patterns of life to surface in an otherwise artificial environment.