Creatures in the Gallery

The influence of art and other cultural phenomena in the

relationship between humans and other animals

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor Degree of

Time-Based Art and Digital Film (Hons)

Number of words in main body of dissertation: 7480

Charlotte Wilkie Sullivan

090013786

Time-Based Art and Digital Film

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design

The University of Dundee

Scotland

January 2015

Contents

Section Page No.

Acknowledgements 1List of figures 2

Introduction 6

Chapter 1: Origins of Consciousness 9

Chapter 2: Distant Relatives 15

- The Symbolic Animal

- Human consciousness versus animal 21 unconsciousness

Chapter 3: Becoming Animal 28

- Pierre Huyghe 29

- Oleg Kulik 36

- Kathy High 43

Conclusion 47

References 49

Bibliography 52

Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to thank my Academic Advisor Euan McArthur for

his encouragement, knowledge and adorable (yet informative)

penguin memes.

I would also like to thank my dad, who has passed down to me his

love of the arts and natural sciences, and who has inspired me to

write this dissertation.

Finally, I would like to thank Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield for

providing comfort, in the form of cookie dough ice cream, in my

constant times of distress. I won't thank you for the fact I can no

longer fit into any of my clothes.

1

List of Figures

fig 1.1 page 11

George Stubbs, Anatomy of the Horse, Plate III (1766), Etched Plate,

[online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Plate_III_from_'

The_Anatomy_of_the_Horse'_by_George_Stubbs,_1853.JPG

fig. 1.2 page 13

Lascaux Cave Painting, [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015]

Available at: http://mrbelloblog.com/wp-

content/uploads/2014/07/Preman-lascaux-cave-paintings-1.jpg

fig 2.1 page 16

Obverse of the Great Seal of the United States of America, [online]

[Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/US-GreatSeal-

Obverse.png

fig 2.2 page 18

Marcus Coates, 2004, Journey to the Lower World, live performance,

[online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://pumphousegallery.org.uk/uploads/Journey%20to%20the

%20Lower%20World_Marcus%20Coates2004%20Photography

%20Nic.jpg

2

fig 2.3 page 19

Anon, The Weighing of the Heart, Book of the Dead of Ani, c. 1300

BC [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://startlediguana.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/bd_weighing_of_th

e_heart.jpg

fig 2.4 page 20

Michele Huet, 1978, from The Dance, Art and Ritual of Africa,

photograph, [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://www.randafricanart.com/images/Dogon_dama_ceremony.jpg

fig 2.5 page 22

Sandro Botticelli, 1467, Madonna and Child, oil painting, [online]

[Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://www.wikiart.org/en/sandro-botticelli/madonna-and-child

fig 2.6 page 23

Damian Hirst, 2007, Mother and Child (Divided), Glass, stainless

steel, Perspex, acrylic paint, cow, calf and formaldehyde solution,

[online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/T/T12/T12751_10.jpg

fig 3.1 page 30

Pierre Huyghe, 2011-2012, Untilled (Reclining Female Nude),

sculpture, [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fmF1pfCwvAQ/maxresdefault.jpg

3

fig 3.2 page 31

Pierre Huyghe, 2011, Zoodram 4, aquarium, [online] [Accessed 13

January 2015] Available at:

http://www.letemps.ch/rw/Le_Temps/Samedi

%20Culturel/2013/11/16/Divers/Images/Pierre%20Huyghe--

672x359.jpg

fig 3.3 page 34

Pierre Huyghe, 2010, The Host and the Cloud, film, [online]

[Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

https://www.berlinale.de/media/filmstills/2011_3/forumexpanded/2011

5840_2_IMG_FIX_700x700.jpg

fig 3.4 page 36

Pierre Huyghe, 2012, Human, live dog, [online] [Accessed 13

January 2015] Available at: http://www.rundschau-

online.de/image/view/2014/3/11/26817428,26286963,highRes,14891

4005F00EFBF.jpg

fig 3.5 page 38

Oleg Kulik, 1994, Mad Dog, performance, [online] [Accessed 13

January 2015] Available at: http://www.potz.blitz.szpilman.de/wp-

content/uploads/2009/10/oleg-kulik-mad-dog.jpg

fig 3.6 page 40

Oleg Kulik, I Bite America and America Bites Me, performance,

[online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://static.squarespace.com/static/523328b5e4b0a7c4005929ca/t/5

3a84e7ce4b0c510a543b5f4/1403539107175/Image+2.jpg

4

fig 3.7 page 41

Joseph Beuys, 1974, I Like America and America Likes Me,

performance, [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://uploads0.wikiart.org/images/joseph-beuys/i-like-america-and-

america-likes-me.jpg

fig 3.8 page 44

Kathy High, 2000-2005, Everyday Problems of the Living, video

series, [online] [Accessed 13 January 2015] Available at:

http://kathyhigh.com/video-everyday-problems.html

fig 3.9 page 46

Kathy High, 2005, Embracing Animal, installation, [online] [Accessed

13 January 2015] Available at: http://kathyhigh.com/video-embracing-

animal.html

5

Introduction

Humans are animals.

Given the knowledge that we have aquired over the last couple of

centuries regarding evolution and anthropology, this is a difficult fact

to dismiss. But how well do we, as a civilisation at the peak of

societal development, understand ourselves as being members of

the animal kingdom, rather than exclusively unique beings influenced

by the philosophies of the Human Condition? To what extent do we

understand other animals?

Hans Hass introduces his book The Human Animal with the question,

“Can we learn much about our own behaviour from studying that of

animals?” (Hass, H., p.17). Since Darwin's discoveries regarding

animal evolution, (including the evolution of humans), the notion of

the "Human Animal" is an idea widely explored by scientists, writers,

philosophers, physchologists and artists, among others. Thanks to

advancements in scientific and technological methodology, we have

begun to form a deep understanding of animal behaviours; our own

as well as that of others.

Across history, the way that we have connected with animals has

fluctuated greatly. Animals started as respected rivals and food, as

seen in depictions of primitive cave art. The image of the animal

6

became symbolic of human cultural developments. We have

depicted ourselves in animal form, as totems and figures of worship.

They have served as companions. We have also abused animal

resources in the name of science and entertainment, believing

ourselves to be at the top of the bestial hierarchy. As a contemporary

global village, a collective mind that has been formed by modern

science, technology and society, do we remain anthropocentric

beings? How have artists expressed their own ideas and opinions

regarding the relationship between humans and other animals to an

audience?

This dissertation is not intended to convince the reader that we did in

fact evolve from and alongside the great apes. What this dissertation

will discuss, is the history behind the relationship that Homo sapiens

has had with other animal species, and how these ties have been

visually documented in art, past and contemporary. I intend to

discover how art has influenced the way we understand ourselves as

animals, through artists' visual and conceptual exploration of other

animal species.

Chapter 1 will take the reader back to explore the roots of "modern"

humans. The story of our relationship with animals begins with the

invention of early art. This chapter will begin to discuss the

importance of the totem in our historical link with other animals.

7

Chapter 2 will discuss how the appearance of the animal in art and

culture has affected our understanding of animals, expanding on the

use of the totem and various methods of respresentation. It will also

explore how religion, philosophy and science have shaped our

knowledge of human and animal behaviour.

Finally, chapter 3 will examine how contemporary artists Pierre

Huyghe, Oleg Kulik and Kathy High have approached the bridging of

animal and human relations in their work through the theme of

becoming.

8

Chapter 1: Origins of Consciousness

J. Bronowski argues that modern humans - ancestors that are,

physically, closest to the how we look today - appeared within the last

million years (Bronowski, J., p.41). One thing that distanced these

hominids from those that came before was the ability to use tools in a

creative way; to make art. According to Bronowski, this is how we

seperated from other animal species, as where the "animal leaves

traces of what it was; man alone leaves traces of what he created"

(Bronowski, J., p.42). It is argued that art was the birth of human

culture.

The co-existence between humans and other animals has been

documented visually since prehistoric times. The earliest form of

figurative art, Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, often depict scenes of

human hunters, fellow animal predators and the animals that would

be preyed upon. The content, detail and skill observed in these

paintings has led to many ideas regarding their purpose. Many

theories, such as those of David-Lewis Williams, link cave art to the

development of cultural beliefs, such as religion and magic.

Early art is also believed to be the first step towards scientific

curiosity, "The motifs of parietal art include... an interesting study of

bison images [showing] that they depict aspects of that species'

behaviour." (Lewis-Williams, D., loc 371) These paintings may have

9

acted as the first anatomical studies of animals; seeing that many

pictures depicted beasts having been struck by weapons, there was

possibly a deep studying into which parts of the animal body would

be most affected by the hunters' spears. This would have aided in

forming hunting strategies among groups. Because creating art is a

social activity, designed to evoke a response within the social group

(Lewis-Williams, D., loc. 632), this method of painting animals would

have given the entire clan a deeper understanding of the dynamics of

their prey; hunting being the human's main involvement with other

animals at this time.

Scientific curiosity has led the production of many artworks. Complex

studies of the animal form have been featured in the work of artists

such as George Stubbs, whose anatomical paintings and engravings

of the horse remain some of the most important visual aids to animal

artists today.

10

fig 1.1

Just as modern fusions of art and science are designed to give

structure to the natural world around us, the art of primitive man

helped map out the chaotic world that their fast evolutionary path had

forced them to endure. This transition into taming the landscape, and

thus, the introduction of art, is arguably what caused us to become

human and seperate ourselves from the rest of the animal kingdom

(Lewis-Williams, D., loc. 779).

Still relating to hunting practices, it is believed that Upper Paleolithic

painters made pictures as a form of "hunting magic", intended to

"give hunters more power over their prey." (Lewis-Williams, D., loc.

691) This may explain why certain animals appeared more often than

11

others; for example, the Lascaux cave is dominated by images of

bison and cattle, an important food source for the Paleolithic people.

Another theory is that the magic behind these paintings would cause

the animals depicted to flourish in numbers, allowing the hunters a

larger food source, as seen in Australian cave art made by the Arunta

people (Lewis-Williams, D., loc. 683).

Many theorists believe that as these cultural beginnings developed,

cave art evolved to feature the organic image for the same reasons

that we produce them today: they became representational. Cave art

became a social exercise relating to more than hunting. The image of

the animal arose as a symbol. Increasingly complex compositions

appeared in caves such as Lascaux, and theorists believe that,

similarly to how we apply concepts to art today, cave painters

produced these pictures to engage the social group in stories and

meanings. Depictions of animals such as deer and bison rutting are

believed to respresent conflict within human tribes (Lewis-Williams,

D., loc. 832-840). Animals such as stags, even today, are important

symbols of power. This knowledge that we have of the particular

symbol seems to have been passed down through history since the

Upper Paleolithic times.

In many caves, including Lascaux, paintings of horses and

predatorial animals have been found. These animals were rarely

hunted for food so they appear far less frequently. The animals are

12

depicted as interacting with one another as members of a communal

group. This has led many to believe that different animals represent

different members of the social tribe. The painters may have

assigned a painting to a person based on similar traits, such as

strength and leadership. This theory is supported by paintings of

individual handprints intermingled with those of animals. This links to

the first visual evidence of totemism; the word defining animals that

are clan emblems (Lewis-Williams, D., loc. 675). Totemism is still

practiced in contemporary societies, as seen on flag designs or

company logos, for example.

fig 1.2

Cave painters appeared to have a deep respect for, and curiosity of,

the other living beings around them. The symbols that they created

were formed by an acute understanding of animal behaviours, only

possible through close observations of animal lives. Cave painters

appeared not to emphasise the differences between humans and

13

other animals, but the similarities in our behaviours. Even individual

people represent certain qualities. We also follow the same life

patterns as other animals. We eat, reproduce, and die. Cave

paintings documented real life. This seems to reflect the zoological

methods we use today to study animals; these investigations have

always involved visual means, be it cave painting or high definition

filming.

Cave painters were the first philosophers, contemplating life beyond

basic instinct. The ideas that they presented have survived the

passings of generations and continue to be explored; symbolism is,

to this day, a major aspect of how we tell stories and apply

connotations. Many of the symbols themselves have remained

universally recognised.

Although these artists may have introduced a deeper understanding

of other animals by turning them into symbols, the continuation of

seeing them as so, in the thousands of years that followed, may have

diminished our understanding of them as living creatures. As our

growing brains and advanced communication allowed human culture

to grow in other ways, has our ability to relate to other animals

declined?

14

Chapter 2: Distant Relatives

The Symbolic Animal

The image of the animal has been prevalent in global cultures

throughout human history. For millenia, humanity has fixated on the

symbolic meanings behind what animal behaviour represents. Steve

Baker explores in Picturing the Beast how the image of the animal

and its role in human culture has shaped our development and

identity. Referring to political issues, Baker states, “...nations have

chosen... to depict not only other rival nations but also themselves in

animal form, or else to define themselves by means of identification

with animals.” (Baker, p.71) This is clear in examples such as the

eagle of the United States of America, which symbolises freedom

due to its wild nature. The eagle respresents not one individual, but

the collective power of the country and its ideals. Ironically, the Nazi

party was also represented by the image of an eagle, however, this

animal was symbolised by its power as a bird of prey, linking to the

members of the Nazi party being 'hunters'. The eagle is more

respected in the US than animals such as cattle, because the people

relate to its symbolic meaning. Cattle, however, are revered in Indian

culture for its importance to Hinduism. These animals are depicted by

artists, often in a glorified style, to act as omnipresent beings within

their respective culture. There is a clear correlation between the

presence of the animal image and its status in society. This is

because these beasts are totems in the true sense of the word; they

15

are animal emblems of a 'clan'.

fig 2.1

Freud explains the role the totem as "the common ancestor of the

clan... it is their guardian spirit and helper..." (Freud, S., p.2) In

prehistoric times, totems were linked to magic and rituals. Freud

describes how in early Australian aboriginal colonies, totem animals

stood in for the lack of religion or social norms. Research into these

colonies showed that, unlike their closest geographical neighbours,

they lacked the means to build houses, farm or domesticate animals;

therefore were purely animalistic in their practices. Because clan

members sctructured their behaviours around beliefs regarding their

totems, the totems represented a crude form of culture (Freud, S.,

p.1-2). Early totemism created a supernatural link between humans

and animals. The practice caused people to bring animals into the

16

human world, where they exist as equal or even superior beings to

us. Although early tribes worshipped totems because of superstitions,

the moral principles behind totemic animals have survived in

contemporary culture; nations are encouraged to admire their totem

rather than cause harm to it, and also behaviourally reflect the

totem's symbolic respresentation.

A contemporary artist who explores totemism is Marcus Coates,

who's artwork “...juxtaposes civility and animality in a way that

elucidates and furthers the concept of becoming” (Broglio, p.101). In

this performance, Coates becomes the animals that he attempts to

communicate with. As a result, the animals become human through

the artist, who delivers the animals' message with a human voice.

Coates' work is very much community-orientated, through which he

engages with small communities of people, such as the residents of

a tower block in Liverpool and throws them into his own world of

animal representation (Broglio, p.108). In Journey to the Lower

World, Coates, dressed in a red stag hide (assuming his individual

totem identity), spiritually enters the world of animal spirits via

descending the building's elevator, where this community's totems

reside. There he makes contact, by copying the behaviours of the

animals, with the beasts he encounters. He then interprets the

symbolic associations of each animal to answer questions asked by

the community. This shamanistic ritual allows the artist to pass

through various animal identities and by doing so, transcend his

17

human form in order to offer spiritual guidance to the residents.

fig 2.2

In the video documentation of Coates' performance, the audience is

seen to react with amusement. Shamanism is a primal ritual that is

associated with ancient cultures. Although there is a huge market for

spiritual guidance as delivered by mediums and phychics, the

concept of shamanism has mostly lost its impact in contemporary

Western society, being mostly associated with new-age groups and

minority religions. It could be argued that on a spiritual level, modern

cultures require the voice of a civilised human being, who better

understands our natures, rather than the guidance of magic animals

that cannot relate to human levels of awareness.

18

The word totem is also used to describe animals that represent

individuals, however this definition may be illused (Lewis-Williams,

D., loc. 675). Representing the individual as an animal to convey

status has been practiced in most past cultures. The first evidence of

this exists in cave paintings, where depictions of animal-headed

people were believed to represent sorcerers. (Lewis-Williams, D., loc.

368) Many Egyptian gods were depicted as having the heads of

animals; Anubis, the jackal-headed god, was believed to prepare the

dead for their journey into the afterlife. This links to the jackal's

behaviour as a scavenger. In the same way that Anubis removed the

body's internal organs during embalming, the jackal removes the

carcass' flesh before the body disintegrates. Commonly, figures of

respect or worship were imagined in animal form. Bearing animal

qualities meant that the figure transcended the boundaries of human

ability, powers that a worshipper may have hoped to secure. It is

similar to the process practiced by shamans, as demonstrated by

artists such as Marcus Coates.

fig 2.3

19

Even today, post-colonial tribes such as the Malian Dogon people,

will adorn complex costumes made of the skins, feathers or bones of

local animals such as leopards, perform ritual dances in the belief

that they will adopt the desired animal attributes, and thus gain a new

identity. Animal skins were also used as a material for sculpture,

which was believed to imbue the statue with the characteristics of the

given creatures (Delafosse, M., p.233). Seeing the animal as a

personal identity shows a deep respect and understanding for the

non-human, or as Baker describes it, an equilibrium. These rituals

are associated with communities who are, arguably, less developed

economically, but certainly less influenced by the major religions

(Elder, Wolch & Emel, p.185)

fig 2.3

20

Human consciousness vs animal unconsciousness

Religious or ritual practices revering the animal are far less common

in Western cultures. Ancient religions revolving around the powers of

nature, such as Paganism, developed into the modern religions most

widely practiced worldwide today, namely Christianity, Judaism and

Islam. These faiths express decidedly more anthropocentric views

and are concerned with human existentialism; the "totem" that many

people now seek guidance from is God, universally imagined in

human form. The Christian concept of Young Earth Creationism, as

described in the Book of Genesis, has been taught since 1517 by the

Protestant Reformation as a "return to basic scriptural truths". (Bartz,

P., 1984). Young Earth Creationism teaches that the Earth and

everything upon it was created by God, less than ten thousand years

ago. This interpretation of the Genesis story, and closely related

interpretations, drove a wedge in the relationship that we have with

other animals.

This severance is commented on by Damien Hirst's work Mother and

Child. The halved mother cow and her calf represent the Holy mother

and child, iconic figures of Western Christian art. In traditional art, the

mother and child are often depicted embracing, praised as the

embodiment of the human experience. However, the two cows have

been ripped apart from one another, are housed in independent

tanks and are devoid of life. (Manchester, E., 2009) This conveys

modern attitudes towards the animals that we consume. The way

21

Hirst has presented the cows, innards visible and preserved in

formaldehyde, give them the appearance of meat. Hirst has stated,

"cows are the most slaughtered animals ever... I see them as death

objects. Walking food..." (Quoted by Manchester, E., 2009). Although,

historically, cattle has been a primary food source for the human, our

methods of sourcing the meat has changed drastically, to the point

where they are more often thought of as "walking food" than a living

creature. Domestic breeds of cow are products of human invention;

their evolution has been dictated by selective breeding and they are

designed for eventual slaughter. The viewers who walk through the

two tanks become the metaphorical entity that pulled the cow and her

baby apart. By juxtaposing the two cows with the image of the locked

Holy mother and child, Hirst highlights issues behind our treatment of

animals, by confronting us with our own fears behind "the

impossibility of... retaining an idealised unity" (Manchester, E., 2009).

fig 2.5

22

fig 2.6

Religion caters to such fears by providing answers to existentialist

issues relating to the human experience, such as death and the

meaning of life. This level of self-awareness in humans, apparently

non-existent in other animal species, whose sentience is linked to

"immediate biological impulses" (McDowell, J., p.115), led us to

believe that we were "special", created in divine image and thus

different. Humans were not, it was believed, members of the animal

kingdom. It was not until the uncovering of Upper Paleolithic art in the

19th century, coupled with Darwin presenting his findings on

evoution, that we redefined our purpose in nature (Lewis-Williams,

D., loc.69).

The discovery of evolution led future scientists to realise that,

biologically, humans still share much with our closest animal

23

relatives, the apes. Desmond Morris, in his book The Naked Ape,

explores the human's primitive, animal instincts from a zoological

viewpoint, and how these relate to the behaviours of other apes, all

the while providing a compelling argument that we are, in fact,

members of the ape family.

Nato Thompson states in Becoming Animal, “...the separation

between human and animal diminished from an absolute biological

distinction to an increasingly delicate web of ecological, social and

personal relationships.” (Thompson, N., p.8), however, Morris would

argue that the complex development of our social interactions were

deliberate steps in our unique evolutionary path, designed to help us

adapt to a world on the ground, as opposed to life in the trees. This

makes us, ultimately, masters of animal survival. Our ancestors'

brainpower expanded at a huge rate, just as our physical capabilities

did. One of these adaptions, was the need to become conscious of

ourselves and our surroundings. Consciousness, which developed

into human emotions such as love, was intended to keep family

groups together as the children grew at a far slower rate than those

of the apes that came before. (Morris, D., p.19-38) Given this

reasoning, it is possible that consciousness was a means of survival,

which is the purpose of all animal evolution.

Biologist, photographer and film-maker Hans Hass, argues against

the theory that human behaviour differs from animal behaviour due to

24

the nature of human consciousness. In his book The Human Animal,

Hass documents a series of innate modes, or fixed patterns, of

behaviour in both humans and animals through photography. One

example that Hass documents is yawning, which biologically serves

to synchronise sleeping patterns by creating an infectious effect

among groups of social animals. Another example of innate

behaviour that Hass documented in both humans and invertebrate

animals was watching for predators during a meal. Hass writes,

“Civilized man has long ceased to be in danger of surprise attack by

predators... yet this involuntary movement persists in us too.” (Hass,

H., p.96) Despite evolution abolishing certain characteristics to allow

us to adapt to a specialised human culture, we have not evolved to

forget primal, animal behaviour. Innate actions such as yawning,

flirting and smiling – everyday behaviours associated with human

emotion - have become highly articulated, unconscious rituals

displayed by both humans and animals. (Wilkie Sullivan, C., 2013)

There are a great many anthropological biologists and philosophers

who would argue against Morris' and Hass' writings. Further

exploring philosophical thinking towards human consciousness

versus animal unconsciousness is Ron Broglio, in his book Surface

Encounters: Thinking with Art and Animal. Broglio introduces the

writing by describing phenomenology, a philosophical idea relating to

consciousness, “Traditionally, phenomenology is interested in how

humans are embedded in their world – a world of material things,

25

cultural meanings... [it] is decidedly anthropocentric; it is interested in

how we humans move in the world as we perceive it” (Broglio, R.,

p.xv). Broglio argues that while it believed animals live and think on a

“surface” level, which to philosophers means animals do not have the

depth of thinking that humans do, contemporary artists too work with

surfaces and therefore productivity can arise from combining animal

and art. (Wilkie Sullivan, C., 2013)

Scientific studies made on intelligent animals have raised questions

about this lack of conscious behaviour. Kennedy argues that opinions

have altered regarding social invertebrates, such as apes, because

the “growing complexity of their social groups” is causing the animals

to develop consciousness (Kennedy, p.20). Apes have, for a long

time, blurred the lines between the differences in humans and

animals because of their human-like appearance, ability to use tools

and sophisticated communication methods such as human sign

language. (Wilkie Sullivan C., 2013) This counters the argument

raised by Malia Knezek, who states that our highly developed

language skills, utilised by humans only, made consciousness

possible, inferring that other animals not using these language skills

equates to unconscious behaviour. (Knezek, M., p.208-209) Studies

on groups of primates have revealed human-like levels of relations

and emotion. Similarly to how children learn from their surroundings,

apes used in scientific study have been found to learn behaviour,

outside their normal biological needs, from humans. Modern science

26

is unveiling the secrets of the animal world, showing that animals do

display their own cultures, can integrate with our culture, and are

developing consciousness. The role of the media in giving people

accessibility to natural science, in formats such as photography, film

and documentary, gives artists a wider platform to convey their own

scientific, political or visual ideas, relating to the relationship between

humans and other animals, to an audience.

27

Chapter 3: Becoming Animal

In art, the concept of becoming extends beyond simply replecating

animal behaviours. The artists who explore becoming animal do so to

respond to issues associated with human culture, such as science

and politics, by embracing a new identity. These artists are

concerned with connecting with animals on a non-human level, which

in turn ties the audience's understanding of animal behaviour to that

of their cultured selves. Steve Baker describes such artists as

"postmodern animals", working through performance or presentation

rather than representation (Baker, S., 2001). Through the medium of

performance, these contemporary artists have physically pulled

together nature and culture, creating visual parallels between our

world and the animal kingdom. There is also a common link on the

focus of the domestic animal, especially the dog, which stands as a

biological bridge and blurs the lines between wild and civilised.

28

Pierre Huyghe

I recently visited a restrospective exhibition of works by French

contemporary artist Pierre Huyghe in Museum Ludwig, Cologne. The

exhibition, alive with an ecclectic collection of video, sculpture and

live animal performances, could be described as an assemblage of

ecosystems.

The artist's installation Untilled, one of the main features of the

exhibition, is made up of a garden of "dropped" things, mainly

situated outdoors. A number of the pieces making up the installation

include live animals, such as a hive of bees building around the head

of a nude female sculpture, and a dog with a painted pink leg, named

Human. Regarding Untilled, Huyghe has stated,

"You don’t display things. You don’t make a mise-en-scène, you don’t

design things, you just drop them. And when someone enters that

site, things are in themselves, they don’t have a dependence on the

person. They are indifferent to the public. You are in a place of

indifference. Each thing, a bee, an ant, a plant, a rock, keeps growing

or changing." (Huyghe, P., 2013)

Untilled is described as "non-hierarchical" (Bornus, P., p.10). Each

living thing contained within the space has its own agenda and

purpose, none of which takes precedence. The bees, ceaselessly

building up their autachical society upon the head of the sculpture,

29

have no reason to be concerned by Human, who may be seen

exploring the garden. He knows well enough not to disturb the

territorial bees. The audience, too, know to keep a distance, beyond

the simple reasoning that Untilled is an artwork. Simply by being

present, the audience becomes part of the equilibrium. In the space,

people are no more important than any other living thing, even the

bees that are a semi-domesticated animal. Instead of people

benefitting from the bees' production, the bees are utilising a

manmade, cultural object that symbolises what it means to "be

human". They have turned it from a sculpture in a gallery into a part

of the natural environment. With Untilled, Huyghe has created a

situation where humans and other animals are clear equals, where

there are no boundaries between the natural and the artificial.

fig 3.1

30

The works Zoodram 2 and 4 follow a similar concept. They are

displayed as aquarium tanks and described as "self-contained

worlds" (Bornus, P., p.10) containing a number of marine animals.

The Zoodrams have been set up by the artist in order to observe not

only the interactions of the creatures within them, but how the

animals interact with manmade objects placed inside the tank. A

hermit crab living in a mask sculpted by Constantin Brancusi pulls

together the opposite worlds of nature and culture In the same way

that the bees of Untilled (Reclining Female Nude) do. This is one of

the many scenarios that Huyghe has designed as an ongoing

documentary.

fig 3.2

Many of Huyghe's works are concerned with placing different

organisms - plants, people and other animals - under conditions that

he has constructed, in order to observe how each group reacts and

31

adapts to their given environments. There exists the question of how

each enviroment, often confined to a tank or video screen, flourishes

and changes. Although each of these tiny "worlds" demands

participation from whichever creatures Huyghe decides to place

within them, they remain mostly unaffected by the audience, and thus

untied to the real world, somewhat like a series of alternate universes

that we can observe. This is especially true of many of the artist's

video works, such as The Host and the Cloud in which the notion of

creating a fiction is introduced by the artist and developed by the

participants. The result is a play of sorts that turns the imaginary into

reality.

The Host and the Cloud, not described by the artist as a film, but as

an "experience" or "ritual" (Ramos, F., 2010), takes place inside an

abandoned ethnographic museum. The building, still containing

materials from its days of purpose, becomes the set of a live

experiment, where performers act out "episodes" in response to the

symbolic meanings of Valentines Day, May 1st and Halloween.

As the performers are left to their own devices, their actions become

influenced by their surroundings; the memories of research into past

people and cultures seems to become rekindled by the performers,

who execute animalistic, instinctual behaviours within the closed off

space of the museum building, becoming the subjects that were once

studied inside the building. By removing a group of people from the

32

influences of human culture and society, it allows them to revert into

a more natural state, where withheld truths such as sex and violence

are no longer hidden from one another. Similarly to Huyghe's works

containing animals, this experiment is designed to grow and develop

on its own, having simply been dropped into place by the artist. Thus,

it becomes yet another ecosystem, different to the world that we

humans normally inhabit. It is a new reality, in which people have

been reborn as emotional, instinctual animals. Symbolism and

culture become irrelevant in a place with no societal burdens. The

performers, through their own actions, can dig into deeper, primal,

emotions, such as fear and desire; feelings that have, arguably, been

diminished by the advancement of a sophisticated culture due to the

pressures of being an upstanding citizen.

The Host and the Cloud is another work that shows the interesting

relationship between environment and behaviour. Huyghe has made

clear that, given the right environment, one can discard one's

"humanity", yet still thrive in a wild, animalistic state.

33

fig 3.3

The themes of influence and design prevalent in Huyghe's work

seem to emulate a laboratory: the works feature controlled,

experimental environments, intended to be observed or researched

by an audience. Huyghe becomes a zoologist, studying indefinite

behavioural patterns. One discovers that even the audience are

subjects of Huyghe's narrative design. The way that Huyghe has

constructed the gallery space using a maze of barriers encourages

the visitors to follow a guided path around the exhibition. We too

have been dropped in place; the story unfolds when we choose how

we, the natural, engage with culture. In this respect, we are one in

the same with the performers of The Host and the Cloud, the bees of

Untilled (Reclining Female Nude) and the marine creatures in the

Zoodrams; this work standing as a "symbol for the closed microcosm

of the museum" (Bornus, P., p.13). The defining discovery to be

made with Huyghe's exhibition is that each miniature ecosystem is a

34

microcosm of the macrocosmic gallery space. Because of this, every

human and animal holds equal purpose. Huyghe proves that

regardless of species, our instinctual behaviours are alike, under the

correct circumstances.

As well as focusing on the idea of people becoming animals, like

many artists do, Huyghe has questioned the notion of an animal

becoming human, through the dog named Human. This

metamorphosis of sorts is not obvious visually, as Human is not

anthropomorphised. However, through the observation of Human's

behaviour, we can begin to see similarities in the way we interact with

the world around us.

Human is, uniquely, a rogue within the gallery space. Although he

belongs to Untilled, he is not confined to the parameters of the

installation, and thus becomes his own artwork. He is free to wander

leisurely, leaving pawprints in piles of sand or curling up on beds of

fur scattered throughout the gallery. In an exhibition teeming with

containers and boundaries, the freedom displayed by the dog is as

eye-catching as his painted leg. Human represents the side of us that

thirsts to leave our mark on things that perhaps should remain

untouched. In the same way that we have tampered with the natural

world around us, so too has Human damaged the perfection that we

associate with gallery spaces; galleries being areas that belong very

much to the civilised being. Human may also symbolise our

35

evolutionary development. The other organisms of Untilled are

mostly concerned with survival. However, Human does not follow this

pattern. He more interested in exploring his surroundings, a trait that

seperated us from other animals thousands of years ago. A sense of

balance arises, as the dog's actions reflect our own behaviours

outside our societal habitat. Perhaps by naming the dog Human,

Huyghe is encouraging us to call ourselves Animal.

fig 3.4

36

Oleg Kulik

Oleg Kulik is a Russian performance artist best known for works such

as The Mad Dog and I Bite America and America Bites Me, in which

he assumes the role of a dog; naked, crawling on all fours and

sleeping in cages, much of the time being led around on a chain.

These live performances are executed in public spaces, allowing the

audience to directly confront the artist in his animal persona. Where

Huyghe's Human is the animal assuming a role of a person, Kulik

has taken the opposite approach. However, both works are intended

to challenge our ideals regarding human society. Kulik's work is a

highly political response to his misgivings about Russian culture,

from issues such as the corrupt art market, Russian election politics

and the capital punishment laws introduced in the 1990s (Williams,

D., 2007). Kulik's actions personify him as Russia, which is in turn

represented by the artist a dog. According to Williams, many of

Kulik's performances express the relationship between Eastern and

Western Europe, who view Russia as "a deprived, unsophisticated,

mongrel “other” that is charming as long as it remains passive,

submissive, excluded, and doesn’t bite back." (Williams, D., 2007)

Kulik's explanation behind his process is, “...standing on hands and

knees is a conscious falling out of a human horizon, connected with a

feeling of the end of anthropocentrism, with a crisis of not just

contemporary art but contemporary culture on the whole.” (Kulik, O.,

p.44). Standing upright is recognisably human; by lowering oneself

37

"out of a human horizon", one reverts back into an animal state and

thus maintains a different viewpoint, literally and figuratively. Kulik

chooses to adopt the quadrapedal position of a dog, simplifiying his

emotional responses, in order to comment on the boundaries of

Russian culture which he believes is caused by "...an overly refined

cultural language which creates barriers between individuals." (Anon,

no date)

fig 3.5

Kulik taking on the guise of a dog may also relate to the idea that

culture formed when man no longer needed to rely on their sense of

smell (Salecl, p.14). The dog is known to have a superior sense of

smell to humans; Kulik's idea seems to be to raise himself above

cultural boundaries by symbolically reconnecting with wild,

superhuman abilities. This links to shamanistic desires associated

38

with recognising a totem animal. Perhaps Kulik is projecting his own

totem and thus becomes emblematic of the nation of Russia.

By rejecting his physical ties to culture, Kulik's work has been

“...regarded as indecent within elite cultural spaces and inside the

borders of real art.” (Bredikhina, M., p.8). The state of being naked,

bound and confined to a cage are, ideologically, closely related to

acts of torture and sexual taboo. The image of a man on all fours

suggests that he is submissive and of lower status. This highlights

the distinction between human to human relations, particularly within

conflicting nations. Kulik's actions also suggest the idea of human

superiority over other animals; according to cultural dictations, when

a person performs in such a way it is “indecent”, however a pet dog's

entire existence may revolve around being naked, chained and

caged. The saying “the dog looks up at you” also implies the idea of it

being a lesser creature with blind loyalty, similar to a slave. However,

Kulik's work is empowering and intends to highlight the remarkable

instincts of the animal which we, as cultured citizens, have lost

awareness of. (Wilkie Sullivan, C., 2013)

As Nato Thompson writes in Becoming Animal, a person saying “'We

were treated like animals'... positions the becoming animal as the

lowest form of human existence... In political terms it would mean to

revoke a person's basic human rights.” (Thompson, N., p.13) The

criticism of Kulik's work strengthens this argument. As it is debated

39

that animals lack consciousness, they are often referred to as

“dumb”, and are thus exploited. This mindset may also apply to

hierarchical treatment of other humans. People who are oppressed

under racial or religious discrimination are often branded as “animals”

and the idea that they do not have a conscious is used offensively.

Because of this, it is apparent why artists concerned with becoming

animal are segregated from “real art”, as artists are associated with

being an elite class. (Wilkie Sullivan, C., 2013) As explored with

Huyghe's work, the gallery or 'elitist space', culturally houses

humans.

fig 3.6

The work I Bite America and America Bites Me references Joseph

Beuys' work I Like America and America Likes Me, with an updated

commentary on America's cultural state. In this work, Kulik's dog-

40

state appears to be expressing America's "anti-intellectualism" (Silas,

S. no date). Confined to a cage and acting aggressively towards

visitors, this dog emulates the coyote in Beuys' project. The coyote is

one of America's native totemic animals, and in the action, Beuys

plays the role of shaman. In Beuys' performance, he wished for the

coyote to be his only experience of America, which represents the

natural wilderness of the continent before the "white men" damaged

the land and cultures. (tate.org, no date) Like Human, the presence

of the coyote challenges the cultural boundaries of a gallery space

and the limitations of what is displayed inside. The coyote literally

defecates on society, reflecting the disregard that we had for the

species. This ritual, combining the energies of the wild with the

symbolic regulations of civilisation, was intended to heal the wounds

caused by the overthrowing of native America and restore balance

between the two cultures.

fig 3.7

41

The success of Kulik's attempts to become the coyote are

questioned. In A Love Letter to Oleg Kulik, regarding I Bite America

and America Bites Me, Susan Silas writes,

"You look threatening... Now your face is a few inches from mine and

you are snarling. A dog that close -- you'd feel it's hot breath on your

face. If you were my sister's Doberman acting like this -- I would be

afraid. I don't keep pets myself. But I would keep you. And that, it

seems to me, is conclusive proof... that you are not an animal... you

are -- quite simply -- a man." (Salis, S., no date)

Salis' criticisms reinforce that manifesting physically into a specific

animal using our given bodies is not the same as becoming animal.

However, Kulik's dog actions are merely symbolic. The real

metamorphosis happens when Kulik stops being an upright, clothed,

linguistic, cultured human, drops to the floor and starts barking a

strange, unintelligible language. Becoming animal is becoming un-

human.

42

Kathy High

To return to parity with the animal, artists such as Kathy High and

Joseph Beuys have been shown to engage with animals on a

personal level. Both High and Beuys featured in the exhibition book

Becoming Animal, the artists of which “are linked by an intense focus

on the philosophical, medical, biological and ethical connections that

bind us to [animals]” (Thompson, N., p.8). High in particular, focuses

on how the human experience intertwines with the domestic lives of

her pet dogs and cats. She questions with notions of both human and

animal life and death, which she chooses to find answers to through

tarot and psychics, documenting these rituals by filming home-style

videos. (Thompson, N,. p.60) By including the pets in these

existential practices, linked to the human condition as previously

discussed, High is highlighting that death concerns all animal life. We

tend to be more interested in the wellbeings of animals that we have

close bonds to, such as pets, which are integrated members of our

own family groups and thus are viewed as being more human. High

includes her own health worries in her works, but as the camera is

always focused on her pets, she speaks only as an epathatic voice,

and her ailments become that of the animal.

43

fig 3.8

Further exploring biological issues in both humans and animals is the

work Embracing Animal, which explores the balance in human-

animal relations between the artist and her two rats, Echo and

Flowers. Both the artist and the rats have suffered from human

illness. The two lab rats carried human DNA, injected into them in

order to test diseases, giving the rats human attributes on an

invasive, unnatural level. Thompson highlights the relationship

between rat and human by writing, “Echo and Flowers were not

simply becoming human, they had become integrally locked in a

genetic relationship with humanity” (Thompson, p.10). High's work

explores the transformation of animal to human and human to

animal through links created by genetics and science. It also

explores the blurring of lines between species. When a rat carries our

DNA, what continues to make it animal? (Wilkie Sullivan, C., 2013)

44

The countless laboratory studies carried out on rats, intended to

investigate the human body, medically and psychologically, turns the

rats into humans, meaning people, such as the artist, metamorphose

into rats. Since this interrelationship is mainly based on exploitation

of the animal, however, the artist's concern is to present the rats as

having the same rights of humans.

This being said, High has stated that her work does not intend to

convey the pet animals that she works with as "little humans", but

rather as non-human. The presented animal becomes a

representational extension of a person (High, K., p.66), just as artists

becoming animal or non-human extend their own selves. This

statement is to argue the theory raised by Steve Baker that artists

working with animals are often sentimental about their subjects; the

closeness that we feel with animal subjects may offer an uncritical

view of their lives as we anthropomorphise them, consciously twisting

behaviours into that of a human (Baker, S., p.166). However, Baker

continues to argue that in many cases, we "can learn learn things

from [animals] that are not easily learned anywhere else" (Baker, S.,

2001).

45

fig 3.9

As we begin to accept the similarities between humans and animals,

we must embrace the animal's place; not as a tool, but as a subject

that we can work and explore behavioural meaning with. Many of the

artists discussed in this dissertation challenge philosophical ideas,

such as the concept of phenomenology discussed by Broglio, who

states that we must “...take the negative claim of animals living on

the surface without cultural or individual depth of being and turn the

premise into a positive set of possibilities for human-animal

engagement” (Broglio, p.xix).

46

Conclusion

Regardless of whether we view ourselves as animals or not, our

place in nature and our relationships with animals changed when

humans developed something that no other animal had at that point:

culture. Cave art was what marked the beginning of this culture. This

innovation turned us from simple hunter-gatherers, surviving in the

same ways as all other animals did, into the highly intelligent, highly

conscious, cultured beings that we are today. Cave art influenced

anatomical art, and the symbolic representations of animals that we

know today.

Art and culture have continued to shape our perspectives on what it

means to be human, what it means to be animal, and perhaps even

how we can be both. Art as an early form of science began to explore

how various animal behaviours, including our own, linked together.

Representations of the animal, integrated in our historical cultures,

remind us that basic animal behaviours can teach us important

lessons about strength, freedom and love, deepening our

understanding of the human experience.

Both sides of the existentialist debate argue that we are more

advanced than even the most intelligent animals. Our rapid

advancements with technology and culture continue to pull us further

away from even our closest ape relatives. Although we may never

47

fully accept that we and other animals hold equal importance upon

the planet, we cannot suggest that animals will never develop our

level of culture, when it has been observed that some show basic

levels of consciousness, just as we did thousands of years ago.

Many respond to human teachings. Animals will evolve to adapt what

they need to survive and many animals are adapting to human

cultures.

The role of art in exploring our relationship with other animals is to

allow the artist and the audience to better understand our biological,

behavioural links. Through a broader understanding of other animals,

we learn about our own natures. Art inspired the humanities, such as

philosophy and anthropology; in turn artists have drawn inspritation

from theoretical writings in order to fully explore thinking behind our

animal relationships. Since the times of artists merely representing

the animal image, the concepts of the postmodern animal have come

full circle; presenting the animal answers many of the questions

about the missing links between human civilisation and the natural

world by bridging the gaps formed by culture. This takes us back to a

time when becoming animal was the cultural norm. It also shows that

galleries which stand as physical manifestations of cultures that

seperate us from animals are merely social constructs that do not

reflect on our instinctual, animal behaviours. When a beast is in a

gallery, the seperations between humans and other animals dissolve.

48

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