Artist and educator Holly Greenberg launched the multi-year project "Bird Collisions in the Anthropocene" in 2024 after learning about a mass bird collision at Chicago's McCormick Place Lakeside Center in October 2023, where nearly 1,000 birds died in a single night. Using data from the Chicago Field Museum and ornithologist Dave Willard, Greenberg focuses on the 10,863 birds found dead after hitting Chicago buildings in 2023 alone. The project involves community members stitching nearly 11,000 fabric birds to raise awareness and educate the public about preventing window collisions, which kill an estimated one billion birds annually across North America.
This project matters because it transforms tragic data into a tangible, participatory art installation that highlights a largely invisible environmental crisis. By engaging community members in stitching birds, Greenberg makes the scale of bird deaths visceral and personal, while also advocating for bird-safe building designs like those made by Feather Friendly. The collaboration with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors and the Field Museum underscores the urgent need for architectural changes to protect migratory birds, linking art, science, and activism in a compelling call to action.