nGbK neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst, Berlin
Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin // Daily 12–19h, Wed-Fr until 20h

Exhibition, Events, Publication
15 October – 27 November 2016

Opening: 14 October 2016, 7 pm

Cats are entitled to the pension, chickens have social security and cows have union representation. If all domesticated animals had civil rights they would be able to participate in policymaking and could no longer be eaten. Fellow citizens cannot be eaten. Whereas some animals in our society are cared for and pampered, others suffer in large-scale industrial livestock facilities and animal testing laboratories. For centuries, the animal rights movement has fought for less violence and more equality in the treatment of animals. The struggle is profoundly political and has marked similarities to other historic efforts for emancipation. To this day, it is humans who stand in the way of an equal relationship, who despite their better judgement cannot relinquish their exploitative interests and claims to power.

With: Ant Farm, CMUK, Katja Davar, Hana Lee Erdman, Anselmo Fox, Thomas Hawranke, Hörner/Antlfinger, Hartmut Kiewert, Ines Lechleitner, Jochen Lempert, NEOZOON, Performances for Pets (Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey), Lin May Saeed und Sin Kabeza Productions

The exhibition ANIMAL LOVERS proposes that we not see animals as “the other” or as a projection surface for our own desires, preferences or fears, but rather that we see them as individuals with abilities and rights. The exhibited artworks give impetus for a new understanding of the relationship between humans and animals and encourage that we regard animals as our equals. Human-animal relationships are constructed by society and therefore modifiable. The selected works deal critically with existing inequalities; they expose contradictions and clichés in the daily and medialised treatment of animals. The invited artists encounter the animals as individuals and explore the possibility of artistic collaborations. The exhibition shows architecture that allows both humans and animals to find their bearings in the habitat of the other and scenarios in which this is miraculously already the case.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a selection of radiodramas, which can be heard in the exhibition space and on air on rbb’s kulturradio station. www.kulturradio.de.

Part of the project is a two-part publication: an exhibition guide and an essay booklet with contributions on the topic of human-animal relationships by Fahim Amir, Dietmar Dath, Sue Donaldson/Will Kymlicka, Hilda Kean, Mareike Maage, Massimo Perinelli, Hilal Sezgin, Kim Stallwood. nGbK Publishers. ISBN-13 978-3-938515-65-5

Project group: Mathias Antlfinger, Anne Hölck, Ute Hörner, Mareike Maage, Friedrike Schmitz

PROGRAM

Fri, 14. October, 7 pm: Opening 
On this evening the performance “Animal Companion“ by Hana Lee Erdman will take place as well.
4./5. November: Symposion “Networking Animal Lovers”
Fri, 4. November, 8 pm: Performance “Four to Two Feet Chapter 2” by Ines Lechleitner with Alice Chauchat. After that: Round Table with Maximilian Haas and Marion Mangelsdorf
Sat, 5. November, 11 am: public tour through the show with the project group and present artists,
Sat, 5. November, 2 – 8 pm: Lectures and talks about existing and possible human-animal-relationships. With contributions by Philipp von Gall (agricultural scientist), Julia Gutjahr (sociologist), Hilda Kean (historian), Friederike Schmitz (philosopher), Helen Keller (cultural scientist), Kim Stallwood (animal rights author), Sven Wirth sociologist), Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey (artists), Lissette Olivares (artist), Massimo Perinelli (historian) and others.
Mon –Wed 7./8./9. November: Performance for Pets
http://www.performancesforpets.net
von Kroot Juurak & Alex Bailey, registration under kulturtier@gmail.com
Sun, 27 November 2016, 3 pm: (de) Guided tour in the exhibition