Right to Flight: A Public Performance & Participatory Artwork

Right to Flight is a participatory public artwork and performance that responds to the hundreds of thousands of migratory birds killed each year through collisions with New York City’s glass buildings. Right to Flight invites New Yorkers to reimagine the city for migratory birds.

Combining large-scale woven sculpture, performance, sound, costume, memorial-making, and public participation, the project invites audiences to reflect on the intertwined futures of human and more-than-human life in the city. At its heart is a monumental communal nest, woven from reclaimed textiles and natural materials, that becomes a site for collective mourning, storytelling, and hope.

Through performances inspired by extinct North American birds, hand-cast memorials of collision victims, and sculptural bird-safe architectural interventions, Right to Flight transforms ecological grief into an act of collective care. Rather than presenting biodiversity loss as inevitable, the work encourages audiences to imagine cities that support coexistence, demonstrating how art, architecture, preservation, music, and dance performance can foster more compassionate and regenerative urban futures.