Animal Influence I - Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture

Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Vanishing Point: Where Species Meet (video still), Gothenburg International Biennial of Contemporary Art, 2011 Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson
Of course, we acknowledge that it is through
our own behavior and our summary disposal of
waste, traditionally through fishing, shipping and in
large concentrations on landfill sites, that we
unwittingly encourage these animals to be close to
us. So having extended our hand, unconsciously or
otherwise – rather than withdrawing it nervously and
resentfully, we were interested in positing a
framework by which a developing, alternative
relationship could be imagined…
Three Attempts was the embodiment of a
number of principles underpinning our work and its
functionality. From one perspective, the work seems
a novelty –we’ve observed its charm to be
infectious and disarming. From another, it too
touches on the absurd – it echoes with pathos and
even melancholy. It is difficult to see the work
without acknowledging a degree of sentimentality,
but in common with absurdity and vulnerability, our
learned rejection of sentiment is a cultured,
negative response based on a preferred image of
strength, detachment and stability, through the
application of intellect.
During the seminal Arts Catalyst exhibition
and conference, Interspecies, in London (2009), the
concept of human/non-human collaboration was a
key theme.
104
It was suggested, during the conference, at
which we presented a paper, that the work, Three
Attempts, might well fall into a category of
human/animal art collaboration – occupying as it
does, a space in which human and non-human
animals meet and interact. In this work,
Snæbjörnsdóttir does not enter the space of the
seal (namely the sea), but sits instead on the shore,
as close to the sea level as possible.
Notwithstanding this acknowledgement of
“threshold,” we allow that there was, to a certain
degree, a significant division of power – it was
clearly “our” work; we directed the camera and the
scene was framed for a project in which the
participating seals had no editorial say.
When talking about collaboration with other
animals we have to begin by defining what we
mean by the term. For us it is understood to be an
act undertaken in a spirit of cooperation by all
parties concerned. An attempt is made to establish
some form of framework where individual powers
are respectively channeled constructively for the
overall purpose of a collaborative activity or end.
Consequently, any notional equality of roles or
contributions tends to be compromised when one
party alone draws up the initial parameters – this
compromise may only be assuaged in part by a