An encounter between humans and nonhuman animals, arriving from different timelines to see our present as tomorrow’s history.
ANIMAL GAZE TIMELINE:
This is where all gazes, human and nonhuman, meet.
The interweaving of the present and the future through this shifting temporality raises urgent questions regarding the persistence of violence. Is this exploitation really a thing of the past, or is it still occurring the moment we step out the exhibition space?
Because this is an exhibition for nonhuman animals, human language is avoided in the artworks and exhibition as a whole. The archive avoids graphic imagery; it is considered a matter of ethical responsibility and respect not to show a fellow creature the details of how their ancestors suffered and died. Instead, the artists have considered the affective experience of the animal looking at these records. Finally, the curation accounts for varying physicalities, ensuring that the height and placement of works allow for different kind of animals to be able to see and experience the artworks.
What if animals looked at their history of exploitation in a future where they were liberated? What would happen if we confronted the animals reflecting on their own past at an exhibition, and what would it mean to look at ourselves through their eyes?
The exhibition’s spatial journey is a deliberate curatorial choice designed to foster a post-anthropocentric way of being and relating to fellow creatures, as opposed to human exceptionalism.
