Pets friends forever. Pets and their people, 28 October 2017 — 1 July 2018
Works exhibited: Twelve Dogs, Twelve Bitches, 24 photographs on aluminium; I Know What You’re Thinking, 4 photographs on mdf
Artists: Woody Allen, Andreas Amrhein, Richard Ansdell, Sophie Bassouls, Tarsh Bates, Maria Giovanna Battista Clementi, Jean Baptiste Jules Davide, Arnoldus van Geffen, William Hogarth, Hörner/Antlfinger, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Erik Kessels, Nicolette Krebitz, Jo Longhurst, Rudolf Letzig, Renate von Mangoldt, Richard Müller, Isolde Ohlbaum, Henrik Olesen, Michael Powolny, Ulrich Seidl, Franz von Seitz, Keren Shavit, Elizabeth T. Spira, Kuraya Takashi, Theodor van Thulden, Cornelius Völker, William Wegman, Christopher Winter, Wols, Xiaoxiao Xu, Pim Zwier.
Curated by Viktoria Krason and Dr. Christoph Willmitzer.
“Right now, across Germany, in lots of meticulously designed high-tech interiors, there are countless kitty cats on the prowl, dogs frolicking around, exotic birds flapping about, and guinea pigs scurrying about. One third of all German households have pets, and they are regarded as part of the family and even partners. These beloved and domesticated creatures have a huge influence on people’s homes and their everyday lives. For most people they are the only animals they will ever come into contact with. It’s the contemporary form of a relationship between human beings and domesticated animals that began more than 10,000 years ago...
The exhibition takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the origins of pets: the moment of domestication, people’s changing attitudes towards animals, and the evolution of pet-keeping into a phenomenon that applies to society as a whole. Taxidermic preparations, historical documents and exhibits from the history of everyday life promise to provide just as many new insights as artworks and products from popular culture. Visitors to the exhibition are to be moved emotionally, entertained, but also led to reflect on the theme itself. What sort of human needs, longings and fears does our relationship with these animals reflect? These are animals we deliberately select as companions, thereby shaping their subsequent evolution? In looking at these special animals, which now influence not just people’s private sphere but also their emotional balance, we hope to explore further the key question posed by the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, namely ‘How should we be living our lives?’” Viktoria Krason and Christoph Willmitzer.
Installation views Oliver Killig.