Big Way to cherish life

Hope takes wing

In addition to animals, several bird installations have been commissioned for the show, the largest being a white-browed tit-warbler-a resident species in western China.

The passerine bird, also in a party hat, is perched at the square in front of the museum, facing the city's business center.

The size of a small building, the warbler is definitely a showstopper. Passersby halt to click pictures with the bird in colorful plumage, a reward for the artist and the curator who did extensive online research to bring the feathered friend to Beijing.

Hofman began making bird installations ever since the pandemic broke out. A longtime friend of the artist, curator Van Driel says the birds were meant to signal hope. Lockdown enforced in the Netherlands amid COVID-19 had confined Hofman, an otherwise avid traveler, to home.

"That brought about a paradigm shift in his creations. The birds embodied his desire for freedom. He wanted to fly like them, go anywhere he wanted," Van Driel says.