The exhibition “Carsten Höller: Two,” currently on view at UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, offers an intriguing way to consider the relationship between humans and their environments. Trained in agricultural science and a dedicated birdwatcher, Höller has, throughout more than three decades of artistic practice, explored how “doubt” can prompt us to question familiar assumptions, judgments, and experiences. In Sliding Doors Square (2026), mirrored automatic doors create an apparently endless field of reflections, where reality and its mirrored image overlap, momentarily unsettling visitors’ perception of themselves in relation to the surrounding space.

Bird collisions can likewise result from a misalignment between visual perception and spatial reality. Glass, a ubiquitous feature of modern architecture, can become a difficult-to-detect obstacle for birds. Transparent glass may appear to offer a clear flight path, while reflective surfaces can mirror the sky, trees, and other elements of the surrounding landscape, creating the illusion of open space and causing birds to fly directly into the glass, often resulting in injury or death. In our human pursuit of spaces that feel transparent, light, and open, we have inadvertently created countless traps that birds cannot see.

During “Carsten Höller: Two,” UCCA joins Friends of Nature (FON) Wild Bird Society to present a four-part program exploring urban bird collisions, bird calls and acoustic tracking, raptor migration, the sky, birdwatching, and related topics. Together, these programs invite us to take a closer look at the birds who share our cities. The first workshop, “The Invisible Trap: Modern Architecture and Bird Collisions,” will be lead by Hannah Wu, a long-term volunteer at multiple environmental conservation organizations. Wu will guide participants through the relationship between modern architecture and the natural environment, with a particular focus on bird collisions in urban settings.

Why do birds collide with glass? Which species are especially vulnerable? How do transparent glass, reflective surfaces, nighttime lighting, and vegetation around buildings combine to create potential collision sites? The workshop will also introduce the growing field of bird-friendly building design, examining how architectural design can help reduce risks to birds. During the interactive session, Wu will guide participants through basic methods of bird-collision monitoring and field surveys, including how to record collision data, identify evidence of a collision, and respond appropriately when an injured bird is found. Following the traces of birds, participants are invited to see the city, the sky, and our shared environment anew.