In the video 'it's a peculiar season' (original title: 'het is een vreemd seizoen') the viewer is taken on a virtual birdwatching trip. This trip is seen through the eyes of two fictional characters, Yaro and Vogel. The birds tend to their eggs and sleep in windy forests while Yaro and Vogel create small-talk in the site's chatroom.
Questions come to me as I watch the people watching the birds. I feel like an invader. Yaro and Vogel are examples of the online birdwatching community. They watch the birds experience what we would describe as deeply private moments from a human perspective. Why is it that we feel these animals don't want privacy?
The way in which Yaro and Vogel observe the birds tells us about the way the larger way we tend to think of animals. We objectify them constantly — seeing them as a form of entertainment or food.
Yaro and Vogel should not stop looking at the birds. They should start looking at them in different ways. And we should start seeing animals as individuals, living bodies with feelings and desires, just like ourselves.
Vogel, 21 mei 22:55
Almost no one understands the way I feel, I'm able to watch them for hours.
Yaro, 21 mei 23:00
That's because they can't imagine how you're experiencing this. Or maybe they're not into birds.
Yaro, 21 mei 23:00
Unlike you love the birds, Vogel.
