Sighthound
8 twin stereo slides, 8 plastic viewers, electro-luminescent film, mdf: viewer area 200 x 40cm
shot 2004-5, produced 2005
‘Exhibition visitors now briefly assume a forward-leaning position, an unintentional imitation of a hunting dog, to render their own field of vision similar to that of an animal. At first glance nothing concrete is to be seen in some of the motifs visitors’ eyes must first adjust to the unusual stance and the vexing optical experience of stereometric pictures in order to, as it were, hunt the subject down in the labyrinth… Merely the attempt to lean forward and see with the eyes of a whippet, which has been trained to assist people in hunting, thus lending the dogs social status, suggests an empathic approach to animals and implies the theoretical acceptance of an animal perspective independent from that of humans; a point of view which human observers can briefly make their own in a rudimentary fashion through performatively becoming animal.’ Jessica Ullrich
Exhibited in Tier-Werden, Mensch-Werden / Becoming Animal, Becoming Human, nGbK, Berlin, 2009; The Refusal, Museum Folkwang, Essen, 2008; Jo Longhurst I The Refusal, RCA, 2008; Descent, MAC, Birmingham, 2006
Published in Tier-Werden, Mensch-Werden, NGBK, Berlin, 2009; The Refusal, Steidl, 2008