Blowup: Wild Things
The first edition of Blowup will examine art and design projects that are created with animals in mind as the end users and active participants – not people.
Featuring: Elio Caccavale (IT/UK) | Amy Youngs (US)
Wilfried Hou Je Bek (NL).
Maybe in a few years, Fido (or Fikkie) will go to the museum without you. The first edition of Blowup will examine art and design projects that are created with animals in mind as the end users and active participants – not people. This evening event will feature three leading practitioners discussing their work that is created for animals to appreciate and actively use. The speakers will address how their work can instill greater empathy for animals in us, and what they think the animals' experience of the art actually is.
We'll hear from American artist Amy Youngs, who has created new habitats for hermit crabs and a lounge space for crickets; Dutch thinker, psychogeographer and writer Wilfried Hou Je Bek who has translated the Epic of Gilgamesh into the pictograms that scientists use to teach language to apes; and Italian designer Elio Caccavale who has designed a TV for pigs to use among other speculative design pieces in his work Utility Pets.
Plus, as a nod to the genre of YouTube videos that consist solely of cats doing cute things, we introduce the Cats Only iPad Play Zone. Bring Fluffy along and let her enjoy some iPad games especially for cats.
Download the Blowup: Wild Things Reader
Contents:
1. Introduction, by Michelle Kasprzak
2. Art for Animals, by Matthew Fuller
3. Cricket Call – Communications Between Insects and Humans? - Interview with Amy Youngs by Giovanni Aloi
4. Creating, Culling and Caring, by Amy Youngs
5. Excerpt from Gilgamesh for Apes, by Wilfried Hou Je Bek
6. Miracles, Monsters and Disturbances, by Elio Caccavale & Michael Reiss
7. A Pig Saved My Life, by Elio Caccavale
8. From the V2_ Archives: Squids, by Louis Bec
9. Final Word
