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Nothing really happens in this city: Shooting down a magpie (2024)
The performance setup included a tripod-mounted video camera, a phone-wired shotgun mic, a bluetooth portable speaker, and another phone with the audio file of the emulated shotgun sound. I brought the equipment to the location (1) of the initial magpie sighting, but unfortunately, no bird was in sight. Consequently, I walked around the neighborhood, hoping to pick up any magpie calls. After 8 minutes, a magpie call was identified emanating from a tree (2), later revealed to be near the town's cemetery (3).
The video camera and shotgun mic were set up to capture the tree, with the speaker turned on and connected to the phone (4). The emulated shotgun audio file was played a total of 4 times. The bird was visually spotted on the second play, reacting to the sound. However, it didn't fly away or show a significant response, likely due to the speaker's insufficient output level. The audio rendered out poorly, covered under the surroundings.
After the main event, I approached the tree, replaying the audio with the speaker held high in my hand towards the bird, hoping it would prompt the bird to take flight and allow me to observe its species. However, this time, the bird didn't show any reaction. The identification of the bird failed, marking the end of this performance.
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