Lifestyle and Culture

Source: BFA

Venue: Baba Vasa's Cellar

Marica 22 Street

Shabla, Bulgaria

Curator: Axel Stockburger

Artists:

Søren Engsted (DK)

Karine Fauchard (FR)

Julie Gufler (DK)

Jane Heiss (DE)

Nicolas Jasmin (FR)

Dejan Kaludjerović (AUT/CS)

Barbara Kapusta (AUT)

Isabella Kohlhuber (AUT)

Lazar Lyutakov (BG)

Johannes Porsch (AUT)

Franz Schubert (AUT)

Signe Ross (NZ)

In 1970 the Belgian concept artist Marcel Broodthaers decided to conduct an interview

with a cat, asking numerous slightly esotheric questions about trends in the the art market and issues of aesthetics. Naturally the cat answered in her appropriate way, 

miaowing and purring after every question. Nearly thirty years later, the French Philosopher Jacques Derrida similarly positioned the encounter with a cat as an event signifying

the complex relationship between human and animal. Following a scene where his cat observes him stepping out of the shower he asks: "before the cat that looks at me naked, would I be ashamed like an animal that no longer has the sense of nudity? Or on the contrary, like a man who retains the sense of his nudity? Who am I therefore? Who is it that I am (following)? Whom should this be asked of if not of the other? And perhaps of the cat itself? (Jacques Derrida, 1997).

These two positions became the starting point for the exhibition humanimals - an infraspecies exploration, which showcases a range of international artists who approach the emergence of the dividing line between human and animal. In his book "the open" Giorgio Agamben traces the history of the philosophical operation aimed at bringing about what it means to be human, a process he calls "the anthropological machine". This process has seen many different stations, from Descartes

characterisation of animals as mechanical entities lacking a soul, over Jakob von Uexkülls declaration of a multitude of different parallel lifeworlds, towards Donna Haraway's notion of animals as "significant others". The artists in humanimals - an infraspecies exploration engage with this "anthropological machine" according to their respective practices, ranging from photography over painting, drawing, video and installation.

Axel Stockburger is an artist and theorist who lives and works in Vienna. He studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna with Peter Weibel and holds a PhD from the University of the Arts, London. His films and installations are shown internationally. Among other projects he has initiated the independent art television channel TIV in Vienna in 1998 and collaborated on international projects with the London based media art group D-Fuse (2000-2004). At present he works as scientific staff member at the Department for Visual Arts and Digital Media / Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.