The Substitute explores the transformation of birds as we know them into data bodies and zombie-like decoys. The Substitute was commissioned for Watermans Art Centre as part of Air Matters, a project investigating the contested airspace around Heathrow Airport. The work responds to the airport’s absurd objective of maintaining a ‘bird-free’ environment over several square miles. After research into the various forms of bird deterrent utilised at Heathrow and other UK airports, collaborator Laura Cooper and I adapted the design of a ‘predator eye’ decoy to create a wind-powered kinetic sculpture that spins and distributes flashes of light. Hosting our two sets of angry eyes in place of the original hawk-eye design, the sculpture captures and diverts the attention of birds, whilst drawing human attention to aeroplane flight paths as they slice through wetland bird reserves on Brentford Ait and Kew Gardens. An accompanying audio piece – a sci-fi ghost story for humans and birds – is built entirely from found text pulled from commercial bird-control websites and Heathrow’s shopping outlets. This soundscape is projected from two outdoors tannoy speakers (the kind used in sonic bird control), revealing hidden relationships between bird control, surveillance, commercial advertising and human paths of flight.