Peter Hammill and Vladislav Shabalin, Tolmezzo (Udine), November 15, 2017

The EARLYBIRD PROJECT
will be presented in VENICE
on 21st October 2017
at LA FABBRICA DEL VEDERE
www.fabbricadelvedere.it

After a long flight around the world – from Thailand to the United States via Greece, stopping in Moscow, Paris and New York – the EARLYBIRD PROJECT has finally landed in Venice, which has virtually closed the circle: the Project started a year ago on the Rialto Bridge and, back to Venice, it alighted on August 1, 2015, on the roof-top terrace of Carlo Montanaro’s “Fabbrica del vedere” (the Factory of seeing).
Extensive video material arrived from each of the places where the EARLYBIRD PROJECT received a warm welcome. And now the editing work begins!

Photo: Vladislav Shabalin, Irina Kulik, Carlo Montanaro

On July 28th last step of Earlybird Project has been held in the heart of the Russian capital, along the Kremlin walls.

In late May 2015, the Earlybird Project landed on the Greek island of Lesvos, home to the most important site of petrified trees in Europe. This has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest.

On May 2nd 2015, thanks to Salamatina Gallery collaboration, Earlybird project has been performed in New York.

On the worldwide Earth Day’s 45th anniversary, Earlybird Project lands in the Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, United States.

Bantak Petrified Forest Park, chosen as the representative of Asia, is the first of three international parks to join the project.

EARLYBIRD PROJECT is launched in Venice by art critic Irina Kulik and Vladislav Shabalin with a performance that involves tourists and a seagull. The performance is documented by the photos of Igor Grebelnikov / Harper’s Bazaar Art.

The news is reported in Italy by “Russia Beyond the Headlines” and “Non solo Russia“.

In 2012, VDGG’s new album ALT is released. The opening track is “Earlybird”.
The idea of the project that will carry the name of the track comes to Shabalin in 2013. Contacted by the artist, Hammill, Grant and Banton give their approval and adhere to the project. VDGG’s official photographer Paul Ridout sends and allows usage of the photos taken during the recording of ALT.

On the occasion of Peter Hammill’s concert in Trieste, Vladislav Shabalin gives him a reproduction made of stone with 50-million-year-old fish fossils, of the cover of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR’s album “A Grounding in Numbers”, released in 2011.