Speculative Taxidermy: Natural History, Animal Surfaces, and Art in the Anthropocene

340 Pages·2018·25.404 MB·English

by  Giovanni Aloi

S P E C U L A T I V E
T A X I D E R M Y
NATURAL HISTORY,
ANIMAL SURFACES,
AND ART IN THE
ANTHROPOCENE
G I O VA N N I A L O I
SPECULATIVE TAXIDERMY
CRITICAL LIFE STUDIES
CRITICAL LIFE STUDIES
Jami Weinstein, Claire Colebrook, and Myra J. Hird, series editors
The core concept of critical life studies strikes at the heart of the dilemma that
contemporary critical theory has been circling around: namely, the negotiation of
the human, its residues, a priori configurations, the persistence of humanism in
structures of thought, and the figure of life as a constitutive focus for ethical, politi-
cal, ontological, and epistemological questions. Despite attempts to move quickly
through humanism (and organicism) to more adequate theoretical concepts, such
haste has impeded the analysis of how the humanist concept of life is preconfigured
or immanent to the supposedly new conceptual leap. The Critical Life Studies series
thus aims to destabilize critical theory’s central figure, life—no longer should we
rely upon it as the horizon of all constitutive meaning but instead begin with life as
the problematic of critical theory and its reconceptualization as the condition of
possibility for thought. By reframing the notion of life critically—outside the orbit
and primacy of the human and subversive to its organic forms—the series aims to
foster a more expansive, less parochial engagement with critical theory.
Luce Irigaray and Michael Marder, Through Vegetal Being:
Two Philosophical Perspectives (2016)
Jami Weinstein and Claire Colebrook, eds., Posthumous Life:
Theorizing Beyond the Posthuman (2017)
Penelope Deutscher, Foucault’s Futures:
A Critique of Reproductive Reason (2017)
SPECULATIVE
TAXIDERMY
NAT U R A L H I S TORY,
A N I M A L SU R FAC E S , A N D
A RT I N T H E A N T H ROP O C E N E
GIOVANNI ALOI
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup .columbia .edu
Copyright © 2018 Giovanni Aloi
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Aloi, Giovanni, author.
Title: Speculative taxidermy : natural history, animal surfaces,
and art in the anthropocene / Giovanni Aloi.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2018. |
Series: Critical life studies | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017038409 | ISBN 9780231180719 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231180702 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Dead animals in art. | Human-animal relationships in art. |
Art, Modern—21st century—Themes, motives. | Taxidermy—Social aspects.
Classification: LCC N7660 .A57 2018 | DDC 709.05—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017038409
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Nandipha Mntambo, Titfunti emkhatsini wetfu (The Shadows Between Us),
2013 (partial view, left). Cow hide, resin. Photo by Jean-Baptiste Beranger.
Courtesy Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm.
The cover design is based on a concept provided by the author.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
PROLOGUE: THE CARNAL IMMANENCE
OF POLITICAL REALISM—REALISM, MATERIALITY,
AND AGENCY(cid:2)1
INTRODUCTION: NEW TAXIDERMY SURFACES
IN CONTEMPORARY ART(cid:2)12
1. RECONFIGURING ANIMAL SKINS: FRAGMENTED
HISTORIES AND MANIPULATED SURFACES(cid:2)43
2. A NATURAL HISTORY PANOPTICON:
POWER, REPRESENTATION, AND ANIMAL
OBJECTIFICATION(cid:2)71
3. DIORAMAS: POWER, REALISM,
AND DECORUM(cid:2)103
VI(cid:2)CONTENTS
4. THE END OF THE DAYDREAM:
TAXIDERMY AND PHOTOGRAPHY(cid:2)136
5. FOLLOWING MATERIALITY: FROM MEDIUM
TO SURFACE—MEDIUM SPECIFICITY AND ANIMAL
VISIBILITY IN THE MODERN AGE(cid:2)161
6. THE ALLURE OF THE VENEER: AESTHETICS
OF SPECULATIVE TAXIDERMY(cid:2)191
7. THIS IS NOT A HORSE: BIOPOWER AND
ANIMAL SKINS IN THE ANTHROPOCENE(cid:2)221
CODA: TOWARD NEW MYTHOLOGIES—THE RITUAL,
THE SACRIFICE, THE INTERCONNECTEDNESS(cid:2)244
Appendix: Some Notes Toward a Manifesto for Artists
Working with and About Taxidermy Animals 257
MARK DION AND ROBERT MARBURY
Notes 261
Bibliography 293
Index 311
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
he research and writing in this book are the result of many years
of exciting discussions with colleagues, students, artists, cura-
tors, and friends. Needless to say, I will not be able to mention
everyone here because much of the ground research for this book dates
back to 2010, when I embarked on my PhD on taxidermy in contempo-
rary art under the supervision of Lynn Turner and Astrid Schmetterling
at Goldsmiths University of London. Lynn’s critical feedback, guidance,
knowledge, and genuine enthusiasm for the philosophical “question of
the animal” vastly expanded my own conception of the subject in an in-
valuable way. Astrid spurred me to start my academic career during my
postgraduate studies in art history at Goldsmiths, and her influence on my
work has been substantial. Other memorable and highly influential figures
from my Goldsmiths years are Gavin Butt, Simon O’Sullivan, and Brendan
Prendeville, who I thank for their thought-provoking seminars and invita-
tions to think about realism and posthumanism from new and challeng-
ing perspectives. The first stage of this project is indebted to and informed
by conversations with Steve Baker, Rod Bennison, Ron Broglio, Helen Bul-
lard, Jonathan Burt, Mark Fairnington, Tessa Farmer, Diane Fox, Erica
Fudge, Rikke Hansen, Garry Marvin, Susan McHugh, Austin McQueen,
Marlena Novak and Jay Alan Yim, Cecilia Novero, Jennifer Parker-Star-
bucks, Nigel Rothfels, Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson, Jessica
Ullrich, and Joe Zammit-Lucia. Perhaps most importantly, much of the
VIII(cid:2)ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
initial animal studies platform upon which the key arguments of this
book stand was developed at the London meetings of the British Animal
Studies Network held between 2007 and 2009, which I religiously at-
tended. Many chapters featured in this book were presented at confer-
ences in Europe and the United States. I therefore thank the scholars and
graduate students who have helped me to fine-tune key arguments and
ideas.
Despite its origin, this book is not an adapted PhD thesis. The end of
my PhD studies felt like the beginning of something important, and thus
I wanted to begin a new journey on the grounds of what I had learned
through my research at Goldsmiths. The concept of speculative taxidermy
emerged then. After I relocated to Chicago and found time to put Foucault
on one side, I could focus on the emerging philosophies of object-oriented
ontology and new materialism. This second stage of this project was sub-
stantially shaped by the reading materials and by those who attended the
2014 and 2015 incarnations of Following Nonhuman Kinds, a Chicago-
based reading group organized by Rebecca Beachy, Caroline Picard, and
Andrew Yang. From these meetings, friendships and important conversa-
tions on the subject of taxidermy and the nonhuman have also developed
with, among others, artists Doug Fogelson, Jenny Kendler, Karsten Lund,
and Claire Pentecost. I would like to mention the influence of the Animal/
Nonhuman Workshop meetings held at the University of Chicago. Also
important to the content of this book have been the conversations on non-
human representation in digital media held at Digital Animalities, a project
funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council involving
a cohort of international animal studies scholars including, among others,
Jody Berland, Matthew Brower, Robert McKay, Anat Pick, Nicole Shukin,
and Tom Tyler. I also wish to thank the undergraduate students at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago who, every year, enroll in my class
Surface Tensions: Taxidermy in Contemporary Art. Their insights, dis-
cussions, and motivation to get to the bottom of what taxidermy can bring
to art practice keep my interest in this subject constant.
I am particularly grateful to all artists featured in this book for their
kind collaboration and patience in answering my questions and helping
with clearing permission rights for the use of their images. Most especially
I would like to thank Robbi Siegel at Art Resource, Inc.; Sylvia Bandi and
Julia Lenz at Hauser and Wirth; Gina C. Guy at the Robert Rauschenberg
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS(cid:2)IX
Foundation; Sinazo Chiya at Stevenson Gallery; and Myungwon Kim at
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery. The reproduction of images in this book has been
made possible by a Faculty Enrichment Grant awarded by the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago in April 2016.
Lastly, special thanks to everyone at Columbia University Press for
supporting this project and especially to Wendy Lochner for her genuine
enthusiasm, professionalism, and humor.