![](https://format.creatorcdn.com/6e9fe60f-60c1-4e61-8247-5680d1ebe5f9/0/0/0/0,0,2429,3644,2500,3751/0-0-0/d50de966-5b83-46d7-8cdd-c632e525a483/1/2/nightglow.jpg?fjkss=exp=2037592007~hmac=e5e5525ccd82471cdfb0015dac56ffc7a4c9079c1d0fabed97506b370732d3f1)
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.