Pidgin Smidgen (2018-ongoing)

Pidgin Smidgen is a robot that does the mating dance of the common street pigeon when it sees a possible pigeon mate but using only a model of internal reproductive organs that are completely unbeknownst to the birds. It's the right moves with the wrong parts.

The robot Pidgin Smidgen in a courtyard at the ARTIS Royal Zoo in Amsterdam trying to relay to a feral pigeon missives from the Victoria crowned pigeon inside the tropical aviary. Animal robot art by artist Ian Ingram.

Pidgin Smidgen has attempted to woo rock pigeons all over North America and Europe and in its early days even courted more widely within the avian taxon including scrub jays in Are You My Lover?

Assistant: Kaitlin Zareno

Thanks to: Theun Karelse and Alice Smits

One of a series of projects about pigeons, the built, the grown, and the body supported in part by a residencies with Machine Wilderness at Zone2Source and ARTIS Royal Zoo.