June 27th, 2009 pianist
BESTIARY
The elephant,
An asteroid
That struck earth
And walked.
The moth,
An autumn leaf
Still flying
Without a breeze.
Dolphins,
Waves
That did not vanish
Into the sea.
Jellyfish,
Dreams
Of drowned
Mariners.
The lion,
A field of sun
Curled up
For the night.
Each minnow,
A pebble
The ocean caressed
And coaxed to life.
Boria Sax, 2009,
originally from The Raven’s Wing
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April 13th, 2009 pianist
Tottori Cockroach, Adult Male, 1913 Dr.Dong holding speciemen
This Friday, I will be embarking along a trip of a lifetime. After much persuasion and convincing, The Director, Tomo, along with the board of companies, has approved of my trip into the unmarked zone down at the Tottori Sand Dunes, where the amazing cream white cockroaches thrive. Before you go googling them up, don’t. All you will get are white moulted skins of cockroaches found at the back of fridges.
The Tottori Cockroaches is a close relative of the common german cockroach which is found all over the world. They resemble closely to the international pest version but a little tad more sensible in their aesthetic evolution. From what I gather from the Institute’s documents in the 2003 expedition, they have found the cockroaches to be extremely toxic. This is due to their diet. They feed on the roots and leaves of the eastern Juniper which are extremely toxic. The zoologists are not able to figure out if the cockroaches have produced enzymes to detoxify the poisons of the plant, or the cockroaches simply poison their bodies and at the same time preserved their bodies from being eaten in the desert. It appears the enzymes of the poisonous leaves and roots cause the cockroaches to lose their yellow coloration slowly. A younger Tottori cockroach would appear more yellowish then a slightly older cockroach. It is not known if the young is born totally brown and lose their pigmentation as they age.
The origins of how the cockroaches came to be discovered are interesting. The research and re-discovery was one of the promising results of the Institute’s initiative to constantly break the barriers of art and science. One of the first artist in resident, Thomas Horniman, came across a picture of a white Tottori cockroach in the institute’s 200 year old archive in 1999. The photograph showed a white insect being held in the hands of the late Dr.Dong. Thinking nothing of it, he continued to browse through the archives. Thomas became more curious with Dr.Dong’s images as he dug deeper. In 1913, Dr.Dong made numerous trips to the Tottori Desert. As the archive was scattered in bits and pieces, Thomas couldn’t really make up what Dr.Dong was searching for in the desert. There were excavators and diggers all around his photographs. It had never occur to him that Dr.Dong was looking for the Tottori Cockroaches. It appears that Dr.Dong was aware of the presence of the species but had wanted to study the insect in its natural habitat at greater detail. Thomas later made the link with the first image after extensive translation and research was done on the documents.
There are no further documents after 1914 by Dr.Dong, artifacts of even specimens of the Tottori Cockroaches in the archive. Nobody really knew if Dr.Dong found anything from his expeditions.
And that was what Thomas wanted to know, to find out if Dr.Dong found anything more on the Tottori Cockroaches. In 2000, Thomas with 8 other zoologists set out to re-trace Dr.Dong’s expedition.
I had a chat with Thomas over the phone earlier, and he told me at that point of time, he felt like he was an archaeologist and a zoologist who had to remind himself he was an artist. He felt like an archaeologist looking for the forgotten city of Dr.Dong’s excavation grounds. He also felt like a zoologist looking for a lost and mythical creature. He kept in mind that his mission was to present these information and research with an aesthetic treatment different from science.
Thomas and his team manage to re-trace Dr.Dong’s exact excavation sites. It was only to be 2 years later that Thomas managed to capture a pure white adult specimen. Thomas had made 8 trips back to Tottori since his first trip. The reason they took so long to discover the adult speciemen was because whiter adults tend to dig as deep as 2 m below the surface of the ground and come out only very rarely at night and almost never in the day. “You would think that they were white to blend into the sand, but I realize they could also be white because they shun away from the sun for so long.”
A lot of specialized equipment was used to excavate a fully grown white Tottori cockroach from 2m below the sand. It was a lot of trail and error on the team to finally formulate a way to bring the cockroach back to the surface after locating one.
“We come across smaller and yellow ones throughout the night but we have always hoped to catch a pure white one, like the one in Dr.Dong’s image.” said Thomas. Today, Thomas is still mystified by how Dr.Dong managed to retrieve his Tottori cockroach in 1913. “You would have thought you wanted to share this knowledge and discovery with the rest of the world.”
And perhaps the unknowability of this discovery shall always stay within the walls of The Institute of Critical Zoologists. Like how all knowledge is created and shared and shaped by science, there are some that will shy away and survive to become myths. The Institute seems perfectly fine that the status of the Tottori cockroaches will remain this way. If you think that this is the decision of the companies funding the Institute to keep this a secret, think again. The decision for this closure was in fact a conscious decision by the directors at the Institute. The directors first weigh if the announcement of the discovery of the species is in anyway beneficial for its current survival as a species. Next they consider if the cockroaches really need to be discovered by humans.
“Seeing that the Tottori Sand Dunes gets trampled by 10am almost every day in the tourist swamped areas, the Institute was convinced that the community at large should not really know about them.” Thomas said that the knowledge was addictive as well. Within 2 months of their discovery of the first adult cockroach, the team dug up 498 others within the region. “Maybe Dr.Dong knew that sometimes an amazing discovery may not necessarily help a species at all, not when they have evolved to elude us humans.”
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February 19th, 2009 pianist
I was walking by the forest’s edge when I saw that black ball by the field. The black ball itself did not interest me that much, but it was the creation of that context that I was interested in. I wanted to know for whom the ball was for and who put it there? I knew it was some sort of a trap because of the miserable food scraps within the ball.
Trap Setter with Black Crested Gibbon (Nomascus concolor) Trap
The ball, later turned out to be a monkey trap, an ingenious contraption created by the locals to trap gibbons. There were many versions of this trap before the one I was staring. The igmoks have perfected their trap to the shape of a ball.
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December 14th, 2008 pianist
Setting up of new tiger farms, Japan 2008, Official Opening
My photographs examine the curiosity and increasing disconnection that exists between humans and the natural world. My work explores simulation, spectacle, and reconstruction. My practice looks at points of intersection with animals in our human-made world—our coexistence—and explores notions of their spectacle and the reality of loss through mediation.
In the past five years, my interest has been filtered through documentations and current trends on the zoological gaze in zoos, natural history museums and circuses. I wanted to know why looking at live and dead animals is considered enjoyable in our society. My work serves as a point of imagination and discussion upon our relationship with animals.
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November 10th, 2008 pianist
Some of us will love animals.
http://hypnozoo.blogspot.com/2008/10/frre-le-tigre.html
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October 16th, 2008 pianist
http://webfarm.foliolink.com/Artists/6350/I AM CMP.pdf
“The reality is that we are merely human and can never hope fully to understand animals. The successful portrait will capture that mystery by distilling what John Berger describes:
“The animal scrutinizes [Man] across a narrow abyss of non-comprehension…
The man too is looking across a similar, but not identical, abyss of non- comprehension…He is always looking across ignorance and fear.”
In ages past, animals were surrounded by a sense of mystery and humans had a
heightened respect for them as a result. Our perception of ever-accumulating
knowledge has destroyed that respect. Re-discovery of a sense of mystery
surrounding animals may help revive our respect for our fellow creatures.
How can one engage the viewer in an attempt to get closer and have a
metaphorical conversation with these animals yet emerge with a heightened
sense of mystery and a recognition of our limitations, as mere humans, in ever being
able to understand the non-human animal?
Taken from Dr Joe Zammit-Lucia Musings on Animal Portraiture
… and its role as a Conservation tool .
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October 15th, 2008 pianist
It is important to me that I reveal the fictions in my work to my audience. I have always worked with scientific facts and aesthetic fictions.
There are some models of fiction that I work with, and I am beginning to think that certain things between humans and animals can only exist in fiction. The fiction takes place on the internet, in the news, in wildlife documentaries, in museums, in zoos and in our imagination.
I have long ago disabused myself of this trajectory that my work should unveil some hidden information and bring about some enlighted consciousness that will prompt some progressive action. I think this trajectory has long ago been proven or rendered ineffective and it is not the way that we work or experience the world around us. To me, my previous body of work remains problematic and my work in the Institute of Critical Zoologists serves as a balance, or an outlet for an alternative answer to the confusing and represented relationship we have with animals. I remain disturbed and guilty of indulging in the dire straits that animals are in today when they come into conflict with humans.
Once I remember searching for the most dramatic situations for animal activists groups and NGOs and to capture a story for all to see. I did the story and still I felt guilty. I was guilty for a fact that comments on my work like “I love this” and “This image is gorgeous” did not really satisfy my investigation into the relationship between humans and animals. What was represented became a consumable drama and the reality of the problem was ignored. There must be a way to portray this problematic relationship without having to exploit the subjects over and over again. To me, my older series of work in animal menageries have failed.
In John Berger’s famous essay in which is titled ” Why look at animals? “, I try hard to find an answer in his essay. He laments on the distanced relationship we have with animals but does not offer an answer on why we look at animals. His biggest clue to me was that the spectator-ship is always wrong.
Today, the way I work is that I produce my own documents within an institution. I find facts, trends in wildlife conservation and objects that affect me, and I imagine a sort of universe in which they exists and sometimes it is necessary for me to imagine events from which they happen. But like all wildlife documentaries that carries a bit of truth, I have always layered my work with facts and truths.
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June 6th, 2008 pianist
There was an error on my part when I applied for the Project Assistant Awards with the British Journal of Photography on http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=797830
The email should have been renhui@criticalzoologists.org.
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May 11th, 2008 pianist
I was speaking to Tako from the institute of critical zoologists earlier this evening, and he told me that the concept of tiger farming reflects a unique situation of our present age. Not only are we living in an era where we, as a civilization, are not able to personally kill our chicken for poultry, but we are also selling our magnificent tigers in order to save it. The situation reflects closely to what is being done in Africa where wild life ranches are being set aside for hunters to kill wild game. The ranches are being set aside for hunting and at the same, preserve wildlife.
from http://www.criticalzoologists.org/projects/medicinal_tigers/medicine_tiger.html
“This proposal is based upon the premise that biodiversity is best preserved by commercialization. Medical farming may possibly be the most positive and widespread economic incentive for the conservation of tigers in Asia.
Maintaining a species survival will be more profitable as a sustainable resource, whether as a spectacle for tourists, coffee for Star Bucks free trade, ingredients for skin lotion, quarry for big-game hunters, or raw material for pharmaceutical firms. Our medicinal tiger farm model closely follows the wildlife ranches in Africa.
In Zimbabwe, to promote the conservation of the wildlife resources found on communal lands, private game reserves have been established where revenues from hunting are paid to local communities. Recreational hunting is now the most positive and widespread economical incentive for the conservation of large mammals in Zimbabwe.
Jeffrey A. McNeely, “Economic Incentives for Conserving Biodiversity:
Lessons for Africa,” Ambio 22 (1993): 147.
Since poachers have decimated the wild tiger population, commercial captive breeding of tigers appears to be smart resource management. Huge financial resources has been allocated for wild tiger preservation to date and the results has been disappointing.”
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April 30th, 2008 pianist
http://www.criticalzoologists.org
Dear people,
I am currently (and finally) working at the institute of critical zoologists.
Object Number : ICZMC/108
Collection : ICZ
Common Name : Chameleon
Scientific Name : Chamaeleo
Taxon : 1 Dry preparation of Chameleon
Object type : Charm
Country : Tunisia
Locality : Douz
Origin of the species: Djerba
Cultural significance : Good luck charm
Availability : Endangered
Utility as a species : ?
Nature of Specimen : Wild
Collector : Hayshida Ken
Year of Purchase : 2008
Dimensions : 8cm x 10cm
Point of purchase : 50 USD
Prepared by : The shopkeeper
Type of area at point of purchase :
Spice and Sundry Shop
Information of object :
Dried chameleon loosely packed in a
polystyrene bag bought in a shop of
spices and sundries.
Inscription on object : -
===
Courtesy of the Museum of the Insitutute of Critical Zoologists. Currently I am working with the Institute of critical zoologists for their upcoming projects. Be sure to check back in 2 weeks.
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January 17th, 2008 pianist
from the series , ‘memorabilia ‘
Tunisia, December 2007. Halfway through the village market, a little boy shoved up towards us, peddling little trinkets. he was selling eye drops, or i thought. he stopped us in our paths and rolled out a red mat, disallowing us to move any further. i watched in interest as the locals started crowding around the little boy. he took out a white circular container. he placed the container on the mat, removed its cover and took a scorpion out of the container. he threw the scorpion on the ground several times to prove that it was dead. poured water on it and lighted a match and pressed it onto the scorpion, producing a scorching sound. the scorpion was dead, i believe him.
next, he took out the eye drop bottle. he dropped a tiny drop onto the scorpion, controlling with all his might to conserve as much of the liquid that was left in the bottle. to everyone’s amazement, the scorpion started stirring. it jerked into life. it moved, tailed raised and crawled towards the crowd. before he could gather enough momentum to get out of the crowd, the little boy dropped another drop of liquid on it and it stopped moving. it shriveled up slowly into a pathetic ball.
the magic eye drop potion was going for $10 dollars. i got the scorpion for $2.
i did not buy the bottle of eye drops.
=
these objects could mean different things to different people at different times.
its interesting how we fascinate animals, communicate through them, and project meaning onto them. these animals are chosen because they are uncertain objects, superficial, and somehow touch on some kind of symbolism. i am interested in the inherent instability of symbolism.
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January 8th, 2008 pianist
jungla, spain, 2007
The dangers of zoos is not that it presents entertaining animals, but that all animals is presented as entertaining. The immediacy of the animals is that it is always entertaining.
Whatever the designs of the zoo, it is still someone’s perception of a proper relationship between man and beast. Surreal pockets of nature which are the extreme opposites of barred cages has always indicated danger and the need to subdue nature. What is radically different is the sort of message intended, for here the attempt is to present the animal on its own terms rather then as a cultural artifact. Whereas the separation of human and animals is unambiguous in the iron caged zoo, in surreal zoos the attempt mars any room for imagination. I use to believe that we live with animals in our imagination, now I am convinced we have left no room in our minds for them to even exist as a form of nostalgia.
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December 26th, 2007 pianist
Tunisia, Tunis Zoo, 4 horned sheep,
the only living specimen in the world
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September 18th, 2007 pianist
xiongsen bear and tiger mountain village
Brief introduction (as on the leaflet)
Bear & Tiger mountain village is located in Shateng Big Disc, Liangjiang Inte’ l Airport Rd, Guilin, which the landscape is the most beautiful in the world.
With 50o thousand square meters or so, Mountain Village boasts about 1700 tigers including Siberian tiger, South China tiger, Bendadesh tiger and white tiger also 400 black bears and other wild life, such as lions, panthers, snakes, monkeys and birds.
By international fund for the Cherish of Animal and International Association for Protection of Wildlife agreed with, Bear & Tiger Mountain village is the largest base for science research, breading, wildizing, sightseeing and amusement of black bear and tiger in the world.
Grand meeting of bear and tiger : 1100 1610
Theatre of dream : 0930 1440
Wildizing : 1140 1640
We were in the theatre of dreams.
It was the middle of the show. The tigers ended their performance and left the stage, roaring away.
A few men ran onto the stage and starting setting up the obstacles for the next act, it was the tight rope.
We’v seen several tight rope acts through out our trip, from tigers, ostriches to parrots. The tiger acts previously were disturbing, none the less, impressive. There were ( we were told they were trying a tiger act previously for the first time just for us ) 88 siberian tigers roaring in a single unison. It wasn’t a medley of messy gongs. It sounded nothing I could really describe in words. It took the tigers a whole 5 minutes to form up into a circle round the trainer, whom they called ‘tiger father’. Tiger father was shouting, cracking his whip lightly, ushering the tigers into their circular formation. Some were already standing on their hind legs. We could see where this act was going. After the last tiger got onto his hindlegs, there was a sudden stillness in the air.
Tiger father cracked his whip once. None of the tigers stirred. They stood still on their hind legs. He cracked his whip again. Some of the younger tigers mouthed a roar, but still there was silence. Then the 3rd crack came, a sharp one. The 88 tigers roared. They roared in unison, a single roar that lasted about 12 seconds. By the 6th second, I was looking for a possible exit. It was disturbing. You could see everyone face squirming up into a shock. So loud was the roar that I actually wondered if I’ll be blasted away. The chinese couple beside us were hugging each other tightly. The kid behind us started crying. An old lady was shouting but I cant really hear her. It looked like the end of the earth was coming and a comet the shape of a tiger head was crushing towards earth.
I clapped. Tiger father smiled at me and I snapped a few photographs, which annoyed him.
Then came the goat and the boy. We were told the boy was adopted by the goat from a tender age of 3. The boy could speak goat language and the goat looked like it understood him. The show ended with the crawling on all fours out of the stage
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September 7th, 2007 pianist
Siberian Tiger Forest Park, Photo-op, China, 2007
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