Albireo offers a complexity of interactions between the three creatures, which are communicating with each other wirelessly. There is still room however for a viewer to interpret the chirps, twitters and dips as the units talk to one another. It is critical to Malmberg’s work that the experience of the art is a collaboration between the artwork and the viewer. In other words, half of the art is provided by the person experiencing it. The conversation in Albireo is both one between the creatures as they exchange sounds and movements, and also a conversation between the art and the viewer as s/he interprets and imagines just what might be going on in those critters’ cube-heads. An underlying tacit conversation is about the value of using our natural resources wisely.

Questions: What do you imagine the “birds” are saying to one another? How smart are they? Are they life-forms?


Albireo (2011-2015)
Stainless steel, aluminum, acrylic, silicone tubing, Arduino microprocessors, XBee wireless transceivers, motors, electronics, solar panels and audio – variable sizes