Home » Uncategories » Just Saw a Big Dog Like Animal in Savage Mn

Just Saw a Big Dog Like Animal in Savage Mn

The glorious weather is tempting me towards lazy days reading on the green withal June is virtually upon us and I still take plenty to exercise…

The Performing Worlds result will brainstorm on the 9^thursday June and will continue in various locations throughout Dundee until the 15^th (visit http://www.d-air.org/performing-worlds for the full programme). I will exist embodying various animal personas during the week and volition have a couple of situated performances as well.

The first of these performances will take place at the Camperdown Wild fauna Park on Monday 11^thursday and volition present the man animal in its subversive capacity, equally the most dangerous creature on display at the zoo. The 2d of which will take place on Friday 15^th in the Metropolis Foursquare and volition exist an research into Dundee's relationships with animals. I will postal service farther details before long then sentry this space…

Last Midweek I ran a performance workshop for the D-AiR Performance Platform assisted by the lovely and exuberant Morgan Cahn. Despite the drizzly weather we boldly left the HMC and took to the streets to explore our relationships to the city and one some other.

This workshop was intended to allow the participants to explore the familiar metropolis and how they inhabit it in a new and actual fashion; hopefully raising questions and bringing new insight into how we dwell in the urban center in our everyday lives. Information technology also explored the way nosotros relate to other beings in the city and what it ways to share infinite.

I was please to receive a lot of positive feedback from the group, who all seemed to savor themselves and who hopefully got something out of the do. I was extremely moved past how everyone seemed to really commit to the scenarios I proposed. I know from attending workshops in public spaces myself that it can be a footling daunting to step outside the realm of 'adequate' behaviour especially when there are passers by who evidence to your actions but I was glad that no i participating felt they had been pushed too far.

Here are just some of the images captured of the workshop.

GENERATORprojects members show 2012 is currently open and will be until the 26th of February. It's a nifty testify this yr; lots of loftier quality piece of work which the GENERATOR team have curated very well into a nicely balanced and interesting exhibition.

My piece, Gallery Cat, is a response to my recent enquiry into animals in art and especially their presence in a gallery. This years members bear witness reflects the smash of the animate being as fine art medium of contempo years; including a photo of a dead robin and a taxidermied rooster. The presence of the fauna trunk in a gallery tin have a very powerful effect.

My piece however presents the absenteeism of the fauna. In the corner of the gallery a cat bed is placed accompanied by a nutrient/water bowl, some toy mice and a used litter tray. White fur clings to the bed and toy mice scattered through the gallery hint at the presence of a true cat but there is no cat to be seen.

At that place were several reasons and considerations backside me exhibitiong this piece equally I did (including jokey nods to Tracey Emin and Marcel Duchamp) and I want to leave these open up to interpretation, notwithstanding I have one particular aspect which has been on my heed that I would like to share with you lot.

In recent years there take been many ethical concerns over artworks which have used live animals in the white cube, including the infamous Exposicion No1 by Guillermo Vargas which an internet petittion gave global coverage and contend to. Every bit the details of the exact treatment of the domestic dog were never confirmed it still remains a mystery as to whether the dog died or escaped, however the legacy of this piece was to open the discussion of the ethical considerations of using other living beings in art. Since then, to some, it has get abhorrent to take a live animal in a gallery equally artwork.I am interested to see what (if whatever) reaction the mere suggestion of a live creature may cause.

In this case the animal is a cat; often imbued with human qualities of aloofness and independence, would our feelings change if the presence was that of a different animal; say a tiger, or a cow, or a rat?

While at the opening for the prove a woman was walking about carrying a pocket-sized domestic dog. That night the gallery held the presence of a live dog, a expressionless rooster and an absent-minded cat.

Nosotros have shared our homes with animals for thousands of years and although it is easy to think of the city as a purely human being domain this is not the example; other species are cohabiting with us in this crowded habitat just as they ever have.

Some, similar cats, dogs and hamsters etc, nosotros actively chose as our companions, others, such as robins, collywobbles etc, we openly invite into parks and gardens for our pleasure, while still others, rats, pigeons and bugs, are unwelcome guests in our homes and streets.

So what determines our relationships with different species of animals and why are some considered 'pets' while others are labelled 'pests'? Why do we engage with some species more than with others and how does this affect our relationship with them? What happens when a species crosses the boundary and is re-categorised?

With these questions in listen I have begun to investigate Dundee's fauna populations. I have been lucky enough to speak to people from the Countryside Ranger service and from Dundee City Councils pest control team, all of whom accept been extremely helpful in providing starting points for my explorations.

In the coming weeks I intend to proceed these dialogues with a view to creating artworks which open up up discussion and create awareness of the diversity of life in Dundee and how nosotros may be able to create and maintain a residue.

London is full of pigeons. It is their perfect environment and they occupy the city in unnatural numbers. Like many other urban animals, pigeons exploit the protection and sustenance the city offers. There is always food to exist plant, in bins, on the street after confined close or directly from the human hand (sometimes shared, sometimes stolen).

Natural cliff dwellers, city buildings provide the perfect nest sites for pigeons. There is plenty of space so in that location is little competition for the best nest sites and very few predators. Add to this the warmth and protection from adverse conditions that tall buildings and homo activeness provides and you accept the perfect habitat for pigeons.

Finding myself with some free time one day I began to stem the pigeons. I chose an individual and followed it for as long every bit I could. When I lost it I would choose some other and follow that pigeon instead. I followed as they bobbed along, pecking at cigarette butts and chewing glue on the pavement, as they flitted from demote to branch and back again. I watched them squabble over discarded chips and limp through a forest of commuters' legs.

Equally I stalked the pigeons through London I realised I was moving differently to the other people in the street. They walked with purpose; fluidly and rhythmically at speed while I moved slowly, pausing, because, stepping lightly. I viewed the city through hunters' eyes, noticing details invisible to the rush of people effectually me. Aware of the sounds of birds, the smell of spices from an open window nearby and the feel of cobbles beneath my feet, my senses heightened, I moved like a cat beyond the city with no particular management. Before long I was lost. Information technology was wonderfully freeing. With no idea where I was I let my instincts lead me until I institute the river and was back in familiar territory.

This fourth dimension meandering through the streets of London immune me to meditate on metropolis life and our relationships with the animals we share it with (willingly or otherwise). Dundee is of class a lot smaller than London, however its proximity to open countryside also every bit the sea allows for a huge diversity of life.

I began to question what exactly our relationships with other animals in the metropolis are; how do we negotiate sharing city space with such diverse creatures? What problems arise from this close proximity? And what does it mean to be an Urban Animate being?