Performances for Pets: Krõõt Juurak and Alex Bailey
Talk for humans: Sat 21 October, 5pm
Performances for Dogs: Sun 22 October, 11AM, 12AM, 1PM, 2PM, 3PM, 4PM (for dogs and owners only!)
Talk for humans:
On Saturday 21 October Alex Bailey will present the project Performances for Pets to a human audience at Kunstraum. Along with Krõõt Juurak, Alex Bailey has been performing for pets since 2014 and will talk about how their practice of performing for non-human animals has developed, how entertainment of pets compares to human entertainment, the differences between audiences across species and how art for pets might be more common in the future, as art for children is now.
Performances for Pets are performances specifically designed for various species of pets. The course of the performance is open-ended depending on the reactions from the animal-audience. Accordingly, the performances are to be understood as a direct and unpredictable form of communication: an offer that the animals can also withdraw from. The pets as recipients reverse the traditional roles of animals being trained to entertain humans. Juurak and Bailey try to find a zone of indiscernibility between the human and the nonhuman, suggesting a de-anthropomorphisation of their relationships in favour of assuming similarities regarding the life and sensemaking quest of animals and artists.
Performances for dogs:
On Sunday 22 October Merike Estna’s exhibition fragments from the shattered toe will open its doors to dog audiences! Individual dogs or dogs in small groups who know one another are invited to attend private performances, on this occasion performed by Alex Bailey. Each performance lasts approximately 15-20 minutes.
Merike Estna’s solo-exhibition at Kunstraum incorporates an intricately painted stage/floor painting which, over the course of the exhibition, hosted a series of performance events including Lina Lapelytė (as part of Kunstraum Five Years Party), Charismatic Megafauna and Maria Metsalu.