First Ever Exhibition In A National Park Was Created For The Animals

Presidio Habitats is a new art exhibition at the Presidio park in San Francisco featuring 11 installations intended to engage both the resident animals and human visitors. Never before in the US has a site specific art exhibition been staged in a national park. Planning for the exhibition took two years. The group of eleven artists, architects, graphic and industrial designers responsible for creating the work came from a larger pool of creatives invited to submit project ideas. The goal was to create new animal habitats that artistically referenced the site or the surrounding San Francisco area. The Presidio park is the site of a former military base decommissioned in 1994. The exhibition will run for a year and end in May 2011.

Winged Wisdom by Philippe Becker Design is intended for the American robin. The installation presents three meditative aphorisms that describe robin behavior. Each letter—framed with a steel armature and mesh netting—is filled with sterile straw, providing ideal nesting material for the robin while affording human passersby an unexpected and mindful provocation.

Sculpture Habitat for the Gray Fox by Cebra was assembled from surplus Presidio cypress removed as part of the Presidio Trust’s reforestation program and milled in the park. The work is intended to resemble the peaks of a fox’s ears. There is a hidden den cavity in the center of the structure which could be a home for a gray fox. The cypress would also support native lichen, fungi, and insects.

Owl Dome from Taalman Koch Architecture is a minimalist habitat that merges the vernaculars of tepee and geodesic dome structures. The design of the dome simulates the type of nest that an owl might occupy within a tree trunk. An aperture allows the owl to enter and nest within the dome, well protected from natural elements. At a height of sixteen feet, Owl Dome affords protection from predators and serves as an ideal hunting platform for its resident.

Habitat for Anna’s Hummingbird by Chadwick Studio is made of staggered arcs that correspond to a Cornell University ornithological diagram of the annual cycle of the Anna’s Hummingbird: breeding, migrating, and molting. Flowering plants make this work a natural feeder for the Presidio’s resident hummingbirds.

Patience by Jensen Architects is inspired by the great blue heron which stands motionless in the Presidio’s aquatic areas, then suddenly strikes out at prey below the water’s surface. The architects installed ten solitary yellow chairs located in and around the park which have a specific focus and relationship to the site through the height of its seat, orientation, placement, and proximity to the other chairs. An observer who sits in a chair experiences the phenomenon that informed its placement and an unexpected view of the landscape.

[photos: Jennifer Hardt]
[via @issue]