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Antennae’s Interspecies issue

28/06/2010

Interspecies communication is now more than ever a key topic in contemporary academic and artistic debates.  Through the propelling enthusiasm and deep anxieties characteristic of recent post-humanism approaches, interspecies communication has become something of a chimerical entity. We all, in one way or another, communicate to animals, especially with our closest pets. The cat and the dog have co-habited with us long enough to allow the development of a shared syntax made of body language, sounds, habits and rituals which enable a bi-lateral communication. Anthropomorphism plays, of course, a part in our communicational exchanges with animals. When do we really see the real animal, or when do we just see ourselves reflected in it?

This issue of Antennae is entirely dedicated to Interspecies, an exhibition, curated by The Arts Catalyst, that bravely gathered the work of eight artists whose practice is entirely dedicated to bridging of the communicational boundaries between animals and humans. Through an inventive and original set of methodologies, each artist established communicational exchanges
with the animal, aiming at overcoming the anthropomorphic format.

The Arts Catalyst deals with many varied areas connected with art, science and society, but when it comes to animal studies and surrounding issues they had a lot to discover. As Rob La Frenais, curator of The Arts Catalyst explains: “When we decided to develop a project to coincide with Darwin 200 and had a few ideas about what was out there. We knew Donna Haraway had moved from cyborgs to biological species (or dogs at least) and were aware of the strong feelings generated with the public by issues about animal experimentation. But, like diving into a deep pool, we became aware of a huge community of interest into whose affairs we were swimming. Thanks, animal studies crowd, for waiting for us to catch up”.

That strong commitment to a very charged field of scrutiny has been reflected by the extraordinary efforts of the Interspecies artists. Kira O'Reilly endured extreme weather and sleeplessness in her work Falling asleep with a pig, and redesigned a second piece completely, after discussing the work in a pub by Donna Haraway. Anthony Hall struggled to keep his fish alive after a mystery illness killed a few, and kept a unique animal-human communication system going despite great difficulty. Ruth Maclennan spent days and days observing men and their hawks, bringing back extraordinary and intimate footage of their interaction on the Northumberland moors. As for the animals involved, we cannot comment without entering an ethical minefield, but we hope that, in the process, we kept them warm and well fed.

With the existing work by Rachel Mayeri bringing new insights into links between smouldering glances and baboon betrayal and Snaebornsdottir/Wilson's Radio Animal caravan injecting a unique social focus to the exhibition by collecting stories about infestation and invasion by animals, Interspecies has offered fresh and original perspectives on human-animal relations for new audiences. The artist who most of all inspired this project, Nicholas Primat has unfortunately passed away. This issue is dedicated to Primat, who died a year ago.

Giovanni Aloi
Editor in Chief, Antennae Project

Rob La Frenais
Curator, The Arts Catalyst

Interspecies London and Interspecies London symposium, October 2009

 

 

 

 

Related articles and events

• INTERSPECIES - artists collaborating with animals (blog)
• Interspecies collisions (blog)
• Interspecies opening pics (blog)

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