ZOO.OOO, a DIY Museum of Natural History
Solo show at Six d.o.g.s Project Space
Athens 28 nov-12 dec 2013
ZOO.OOO, Extra-Conjugale’s second solo show, is based on a trilogy of incidents that occurred between May and June 2013 in Athens and Skopelos Island. One way or another, all three incidents negotiate/neglect/reflect the notion of the end/the notion of death. The artists’ documentations of these incidents are the main components of both ZOO.OOO: the exhibition and ZOO.OOO the artist book (Cube Art Editions, 2013).
The short film Bird of Prey is evidence of a seagull devouring two baby pigeons in the heart of the city of Athens. Extra-Conjugale caught the uninvited guest in action, spreading horror in a quiet neighborhood. This rather shocking incident caught the eye of the collaborative duo almost accidentally. Extra-Conjugale were looking outside their studio window in a moment of distress when the seagull appeared. Their reaction was to press the camera’s record button, unaware of the violent scene that was about to follow.
Goodbye Kitty is the imprint of a dead cat, reminiscent of Lascaux cave drawings. The unlucky animal died of thirst; its corpse was lying against the humid wall of a shed door – tragic as it may seem, sometimes humidity can be a source of freshness and comfort. An ultra realistic, almost 3D drawing was discovered after the dead animal was removed from its deathbed. A photograph of the imprint is part of ZOO.OOO; the imprint itself was removed right after the photograph was taken.
Last but not least, a decomposed snake was found in the backyard of Extra-Conjugale’s country house and was immediately reincarnated into a series of blueprints. The snake’s bones were randomly thrown against the blueprint material, in order for them to be rearranged only by chance. These snake remnants may easily pass for creatures diving into the deep sea or, perhaps, fluffy clouds; the sun immortalized them in quite a tricky way.
ZOO.OOO could be regarded as a ‘’best of’’ from the artists’ own (both DIY and found) animal memorabilia, where polar bears, owls, and horses join extraordinary plants, fantastic birds, and seahorses in order to compose and decompose a somehow decadent and deeply personal Museum of Natural History.
A paradoxical combination of neon lights, rocky horror sculptures, semi-fluorescent installations, the Goodbye Kitty print, blueprints, dozens of sketch books nailed straight into walls, and a black and white projection of Bird of Prey, ZOO.OOO is a place in which most misfits would loved to get lost.