VENICE 2019

Personal Structures - Identity 
European Cultural Centre at Palazzo Mora
In the context of the Venice Art Biennale 2019

The installation Wolfpack is about our attempts to control nature.  Dogs and humans are social animals. We have lived alongside each other for thousands of years and have co-evolved. Dogs have been useful to us as working animals, protecting us as watchdogs, and herding our sheep or cows. We also enjoy their company, and deep friendships have formed between us. They have entered into our mythologies. In recent times, in the west at least, there has been more attention paid to dogs as companions and family members. We tend to anthropomorphise them, and psychologists believe that when we see a creature as being more like us we often take better care of them.

Many of the dogs in Wolfpack display the attributes of human control as well as concern i.e. collars, muzzles, coats, etc. Our interventions produce many breeds as working dogs and companion animals, often with pedigrees which act as trophies for the owner, but not all of this control is in the dogs’ best interests. Breeders with little knowledge (or interest) of genetics have bred disabilities and defects into many dogs which cause them to suffer. 

However, when dogs get together they exhibit pack-behaviour inherited from their wolf ancestors. In spite our love of dogs as loyal companions, when they get the opportunity they are far more interested in their own kind.  Ultimately we fail in our attempts to control nature.