Factory farming or laboratory meat, cuddly pets or robots in animal form: the relationship between animals and humans is often the subject of hot dispute. How can humans and animals live together sustainably and what possibilities will technology and science open up in the future? Artists and designers have embarked on a revealing search for answers.
Animals have always served an important purpose for humans – whether as food, scientific test object, hunting trophy or playmate. When they are used today as organ donors for humans, or are cultivated in laboratories, we have to ask whether these ‘creatures’ are even still animals at all.
In the search for the ‘right balance’, designers create products for animals and research possibilities of replacing animal-based raw materials and even the animal itself. At the same time they design scenarios that look into the future.
Included in the exhibition is Koen Vanmechelen's 'UNDER MY SKIN'; A splendid coat made out of chicken feathers. Although it is made from a seemingly banal animal - the chicken – it stands out prominently. The feathers belong to the fifteenth hybrid animal in his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project.The animal, the Mechelse Silky, is undoubtedly the most beautiful of the Vanmechelen genus. It is an unusual breed of chicken with feathers that resemble fur. All the animals died in a natural way. Construction, not destruction lies at the base of this splendour.
An exhibition of the museum Marta Herford in collaboration with and after an idea by Tanja Seiner.
EXHIBITION FACTS
Design Museum Gent
Jan Breydelstraat 5 9000 Gent more information; https://www.designmuseumgent.be/en/events/creatures-made-to-measure