ANIMAL NATURE

Category

Exhibition

Year

2005

Institution

Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh., Pittsburgh

Comment

Animal Nature is an exhibition concept that has developed out of an ongoing, expanding web-project entitled Criminal Animal found at www.criminalanimal.org.Criminal Animal is intended to bring together a wide range of artists, critics, scholars and activists engaged in the broad field of animal studies. The site serves both as a clearinghouse for information and resources, as well as a means by which to bring together the far-flung communities of artists, scientists, philosophers, and cultural critics interested in investigating the nature of “the animal.” This site, having started just a few months ago, is already receiving much positive attention from those in the field. Animal Nature, and a series of related public installations/interventions in the city of Pittsburgh, will be an important subset of this work exploring the understanding of animals through a wide range of contemporary artistic and critical practices.The exhibition intends to be a select sampling of the work of artists, filmmakers, scientists, philosophers, and cultural critics who are currently pushing the boundaries of the complex issues in animal representation: the animal body, the trace of the animal, animal agency, animal presence, animal voice, and the cultural constructions that create our conceptual framework of “animal.” Animal Nature will be framed as a research project–not on animal bodies–but into our understanding of the animal through poetic, emphatic, semiotic, and formal strategies.The exhibition will include work by:Steve Baker + Edwina AshtonCatherine ChalmersJim Duesing + Jessica HodginsLane Hall + Lisa MolineAndrew JohnsonEduardo KacDorian KolundzijaLyne LapointePer ManingMichael PestelAngela SingerOlly & SuziSteve Wilson

• Eduardo Kac