A High Flying Artist

For seven days, a giant nest 50 metres up one side of the Weena Tower in Rotterdam has been home for Dutch artist Benjamin Verdonck. He’s recently descended from his lofty abode but as these images reveal, it would have been no mean task getting his nest up there in the first place. And if you’re going to spend a week sitting on a collection of twigs, obviously you’d make sure you had a nice grey suit to wear…




Verdonck apparently built his nest over six weeks using, he says, “the crowns of 23 silver birches, one birch, one willow, two straw bales, one bucket of spit, three bags of sand, 12 buckets of glue and 19 canso polyurethane foam.” That’s a lot of spit by anyones standards.

After making a “risk analysis” and guaranteeing “access for the emergency services” Verdonck attached his new home to the tower and remained there for seven days, occasionally flinging feathers down onto the street. We’re not sure if his droppings went the same way.