ART CITIES:London-Animality
Why have animals not been subject of greater interest in contemporary conversations and historical discourses in the arts? With this question as a premise, the group exhibition “ANIMALITY” examines how an artistic and theoretical impetus might be formed that challenges the way we think about beings that are not of our own species.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Marian Goodman Gallery Archive
In its essence, “ANIMALITY” at Marian Goodman Galley in London asks what we as human beings can learn about ourselves when looking at the limitations of our own thinking, with respect to nonhuman animals. The exhibition proposes that while some distinctions between humans and animals are valid, the two groups are more productively conceived as parts of an ontological whole. The exhibition unfolds around six themes: Crossings, Extinction, Markings, Origins, Traces and Variations, following the layout of the zoo. Over the last 150 years, zoos have developed completely new display strategies to simulate animals’ natural habitats and retire as inhumane the old-fashioned cage. The layout of the exhibition examines the meaning of nature in the city by looking at how zoos have assembled and displayed their animal collections, contrasting the idea of museum with that of a zoo. A whole menagerie of artists and writers have been corralled for this high-concept exhibition, among them: Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, John Baldessari, Georges Bataille, Cosima von Bonin, Marcel Broodthaers, Maurizio Cattelan, Charles Darwin, Albrecht Dürer, Elmgreen & Dragset, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Michel Foucault, Roni Horn, Karen Kilimnik, Louise Lawler, Steve McQueen, Annette Messager, Gabriel Orozco, George Orwell, Yinka Shonibare, Taryn Simon, Adrián Villar Rojas, Franz West and Jordan Wolfson. The exhibition participates in a broader philosophical debate of the past two Centuries that includes such thinkers as: Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Georges Bataille, Emmanuel Levinas, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault, who has a particular importance to this exhibition. In his book “Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason” (1964), Foucault connects the idea of human madness with that of animalism. He describes how terms such as “Wild beasts”, “Untamed”, and “Frenzied” have been applied not only to those actually suffering from mental illness, but also to humans from exotic places and cultures that, in the eyes of colonizers, had chosen to live like animals and thus were treated accordingly. The exhibition explores clear parallels between Foucault’s idea and our contemporary realities of refugees and immigrants, expanding the dialogue to the larger social and political issues of our time. Contemporary and historical artworks as well as numerous artifacts are juxtaposed, allowing for relationships between art and non-art materials to emerge, creating strong and provocative links between historical and contemporary realities.
Info: Marian Goodman Gallery, 5-8 Lower John Street, London, Duration: 3/11-17/12/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 1-0:00-18:00, www.mariangoodman.com
