Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Check out these photos of animals images:

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
inside the DIY bio shed

Revital Cohen
Ready-to-use Models (2011)


Ready-to-use Models is Cohen’s new research project, developed for Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal. With this installation, Cohen seeks to question the current defini- tions used to indicate living creatures. Does one denomi- nate a manipulated organism as an object, product, animal or pet? What consequences does this choice of definition entail for our perceptions, feelings and behaviours regard- ing these living creatures?
Laboratories deploy animals in the development of medicines. Much in the same way as products, rodents for various experiments can be ordered from online catalogues. In this research experiment, Cohen examines the nature of the SERT Knock-out rats. These rats are manipulated to not be able to absorb serotonin, the hormone responsible for feelings of contentment and happiness, and therefore consistently display increased levels of anxiety- and depres- sion-like behaviours.
For a species regarded as disposable product, Cohen has built a large play cage in which the environment is de- signed to boost the serotonin levels, in attempt to make the rat happy. With this futile and absurd intervention, Ready- to-use Models questions the exchange of roles between animal and object. The commodification of the rat is mir- rored by a sequence of collected footage depicting products being defined as pets; from Tamagotchi to Fur Real Friends robots.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33

The surface of the water under

Image by muzina_shanghai

Malayan Tiger

Image by Rennett Stowe

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

A few nice photos of animals images I found:

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
inside the DIY bio shed

Tuur Van Balen
Cook me. Black Bile (2011)

For Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal, Van Balen is developing Cook Me. Black Bile, a new research project which continues to build on the themes addressed in his earlier work. Referencing old medical practices of control- led bloodletting to maintain the balance between the body fluids (Hippocrates), Van Balen releases a leech onto his arm. He later prepares a hearty meal using the blood- filled leech as his main ingredient. Black Bile refers to one of the four body fluids as determined by Hippocrates in his theory of the four humours (slime, blood, yellow bile and black bile). The balance between these fluids would not only determine physical health, but also influence the mental condition of each person. Black bile, for instance, is linked to the feature of melancholy (in Greek μελαγχολία, or literally black bile). Bloodletting was one of the main tools to maintain the physical and mental balance of each individual. The project proposes new interactions with one’s metabolism, through biosensing and biosynthesis, similar to the Synthetic Immune System. In Cook Me. Black Bile, these interactions are proposed as new forms of cooking with cooking experiments, new recipes and cooking tools, as can be seen in the shed. Van Balen is hoping to one day serve a dish cooked with the help of a parasite and a pinch of custom designed bacteria to balance his feeling of melan- choly.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33

Pelican Profile

Image by PeakDistrict-Photo
I was left waiting a little while for this Pelican to turn it's had to five a view of those impressive fishing beaks.

Pelican's are not a key attraction at any Zoo but they are suprisingly impressive in terms of size and ferocity.

Scientific Name: Pelecanus

Average life span in the wild:
10 to 25 years or more

Size:
Body, 5.8 ft (1.8 m); wingspan, 10 ft (3 m)

Weight:
30 lbs (13 kg)

Many pelicans fish by swimming in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a "U" shape and drive fish into shallow water by beating their wings on the surface. When fish congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop them up. The brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish (usually a type of herring called menhaden) from above and snares them in its bill. Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish immediately. The American white pelican can hold some 3 gallons (11 1/2 liters) of water in its bill.


Website -
www.peakdistrict-photo.co.uk

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
Tuur Van Balen
Cook me. Black Bile (2011)

inside the DIY bio shed

For Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal, Van Balen is developing Cook Me. Black Bile, a new research project which continues to build on the themes addressed in his earlier work. Referencing old medical practices of control- led bloodletting to maintain the balance between the body fluids (Hippocrates), Van Balen releases a leech onto his arm. He later prepares a hearty meal using the blood- filled leech as his main ingredient. Black Bile refers to one of the four body fluids as determined by Hippocrates in his theory of the four humours (slime, blood, yellow bile and black bile). The balance between these fluids would not only determine physical health, but also influence the mental condition of each person. Black bile, for instance, is linked to the feature of melancholy (in Greek μελαγχολία, or literally black bile). Bloodletting was one of the main tools to maintain the physical and mental balance of each individual. The project proposes new interactions with one’s metabolism, through biosensing and biosynthesis, similar to the Synthetic Immune System. In Cook Me. Black Bile, these interactions are proposed as new forms of cooking with cooking experiments, new recipes and cooking tools, as can be seen in the shed. Van Balen is hoping to one day serve a dish cooked with the help of a parasite and a pinch of custom designed bacteria to balance his feeling of melan- choly.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

A few nice photos of animals images I found:

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
In Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal, both designers exhibit three of their works. On the ground floor of each space, two recent works are on display. Above, in the hanging sheds, one can find research work-in-progress installa tions commissioned by Z33.
The floating spaces reference the playfulness of tree houses, the uncanniness of domestic homes flying in a hurricane, and the experimental nature of Do-It-Yourself bio garden sheds. Van Balen and Cohen invite the visitor to step into their alter-worlds, a space with its own logic; strange at first, but somewhere recognisable.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
In Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal, both designers exhibit three of their works. On the ground floor of each space, two recent works are on display. Above, in the hanging sheds, one can find research work-in-progress installa tions commissioned by Z33.
The floating spaces reference the playfulness of tree houses, the uncanniness of domestic homes flying in a hurricane, and the experimental nature of Do-It-Yourself bio garden sheds. Van Balen and Cohen invite the visitor to step into their alter-worlds, a space with its own logic; strange at first, but somewhere recognisable.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33

Opening Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal

Image by Z33 art centre, Hasselt
In Alter Nature: The Unnatural Animal, both designers exhibit three of their works. On the ground floor of each space, two recent works are on display. Above, in the hanging sheds, one can find research work-in-progress installa tions commissioned by Z33.
The floating spaces reference the playfulness of tree houses, the uncanniness of domestic homes flying in a hurricane, and the experimental nature of Do-It-Yourself bio garden sheds. Van Balen and Cohen invite the visitor to step into their alter-worlds, a space with its own logic; strange at first, but somewhere recognisable.

photo: Kristof Vrancken / Z33