“With their parallel lives, animals offer man a companionship which is different from any offered by human exchange. Different because it is a companionship offered to the loneliness of man as a species. Such an unspeaking companionship was felt to be so equal that often one finds the conviction that it was man who lacked the capacity to speak with animals — hence the stories and legends of exceptional beings, like Orpheus, who could talk with animals in their own language.”
– John Berger, Why Look at Animals
Borrowing from John Berger’s essay by the same name, Why Look at Animals examines the relationship between the human species and animals. Throughout history, this parallel co-existence has morphed and changed several times, from reverence to anthropomorphism to annihilation thus bringing us into the hegemonic and off-kilter relationship that we currently find ourselves in. To turn our gaze to other species outside of our own, might also be a way to find answers unknown to us about ourselves and our shared landscape. Why Look at Animals invites video works that engage with the themes of animals in modernity by drawing attention to the autonomy, centrality and complexity of this tangled relationship with the humankind.
Submission deadline 9.8.2019
Submission/ enquiries: whylookatanimals(at)gmail.com
Please include a short description of your work, an artist bio and a link to your work online. We use English as the main language, but you may also submit your application in Finnish.
Please note that we are a non-profit event run by volunteers, born from the interest to provide a free event and bring out emerging artists. We are organized with the help of Fiskars Company who have kindly given a space for us to use for free. Due to the nature of the event, we unfortunately can not pay artist fees or give travel grants. For any other information, email us!
WHY LOOK AT ANIMALS 