Empty Nest, Flights of Fancy, The Tatton Biennial of Contemporary Art 2012 and Compton Verney, Warwickshire:
Empty Nest is a giant sized Rooks nest built from found wood. It was first commissioned in 2012 by Daniel Arnaud and Jordan Kaplan for Flights of Fancy at The Tatton Biennial of Contemporary Art and was recommissioned in 2013 for the annual programme at Compton Verney, Warwickshire.
Empty Nest explores themes of abandonment, the home, collecting, construction and repair. Empty Nest references the huge scale of historic mansions and estates across the UK while reflecting on the changing fortunes of their inhabitants who over generations, struggled to maintain their properties due to death duties, war and lack of an heir.
The work also considers the countryside folklore that suggests Rooks abandon the colonies they inhabited generationally when an heir to a nearby estate dies childless. Empty Nest at Compton Verney was accompanied by an exhibition of documentation, ephemera and artwork Empty Nest Archive in the mansion house. Empty Nest is available for commission.