Curating the Animal: ethics and care of the non-human within art exhibitions

In Ways of Curating, Hans Ulrich Obrist reminds us of the “Latin etymological root of curating as “curare: to take care of”. Obrist’s reminder of the care, and caretaking, in curation has particular relevance when situating representations of animals, whether through imagery, objects or the live body, within art exhibitions. Sensitive curation seeks to avoid animals being reduced to a representation of what it is they represent, through a consideration of the animal in ways beyond problematically anthropocentric artworks, and as more than what their observable difference to humans might be. Attention is necessary to avoid any unethical diminishing of their rights, to give true and sympathetic representation, and to ensure inclusion is without any physical or psychological duress or harm having been caused. When seeking to avoid anthropocentric leanings and understandings, the ‘taking care’ in curation becomes increasingly significant. The curator, in this circumstance, must think ethically how they represent and include the non-human, whilst being critically and creatively placed within a given context. This presentation offers insight into sensitive and careful curating of the non-human within art exhibitions. It discusses how sensitive consideration of the artwork’s intentions through a curatorial recognition of the needs of the non-human subject is possible, and how ethics informs an exhibition’s remit and intentions when non-humans are included. Specifically, this will be explored through the companion exhibitions to this conference, staged in Oulu and Derby, and in relation to the interspecies collaborations that inform my own artistic practice and its curatorial needs.