Surveillance Pigeons

ISAAC GRAY

ARTIST STATEMENT

Cities are traditionally regarded as harsh, cold, geometric environments, devoid of organic elements save pigeons. Yet cities themselves contain many anatomical features analogous to their natural counterpart - nerves of electrical cables, bowels of drainage pipes and sewers. And similar to the smaller organisms, they can grow and expand in many of the same ways. They follow the same metabolism efficiency laws as described in animals by one Max Kleiber. The larger the city, the more efficient. As more people arrive, settle, expand, and trade, the city must change and innovate to accommodate them - similar to Darwin’s principles of natural selection. They are run by social principles that define the urban character. So the city grows, the city evolves, and the city breathes and ticks. Why should it not be considered an organism?