Collaboration Birdhouse is designed so that one bird must help another open its lever-operated iris. Developed with Natalie Jeremijenko, it makes assistance a condition of entry.

The design creates both an opportunity for cooperation and the obstacle that makes assistance necessary. Does requiring help establish reciprocity, or give one participant control over another’s access? Through the familiar form of a birdhouse, the project examines how everyday systems shape interdependence. It asks when reliance on others enables mutual support, and when a designed dependency becomes a barrier.