What separates humans from animals? Actually, what does it entail to separate ourselves from the rest of non-human animals? How do power structures affect the relationship between humans and animals? For centuries, we’ve shaped the planet to our likening without taking into account the millions of lives affected by our lifestyle. The exhibition Sleeping with a tiger, held at K-Gold Temporary Gallery in Lesvos, Greece, until September 20th, ponders on those questions while focusing “on the relationship between human and animal societies by looking at the dynamics of coexistence, dominance, and exclusion.”
Taking its name from a Maria Lassnig painting, the exhibition, curated by Nicolas Vamvouklis, starts from the notions of reason and instinct and explores “possible interspecies connections through history, politics and tradition” – for example, how language affects the way we perceive animals based on their behaviour, appearance and location (swarm of bees, parliament of owls, colony of ants, etc.). Through works by artists like Ana Mendieta, Oliviero Fiorenzi, Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Mike Bourscheid, Pinar Yolaçan, Iro Vasalou, Cosima von Bonin, Maria Papadimitriou, Józef Robakowski and Virginia Russolo, the narratives in Sleeping with a tiger examine “how places of turmoil can become hotbeds for revisiting our worldview and how art can be a powerful tool for developing a symbiotic future.”
The exhibition Sleeping with a tiger is on view until September 20th at K-Gold Temporary Gallery, Agia Paraskevi, 81102 Lesvos, Greece.
Alex Cecchetti, Courtesy of the artist.
Oliviero Fiorenzi, Courtesy Ivan Grianti.
Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou, Courtesy of the artist.
Mike Bourscheid, Courtesy of the artist.
Konstantinos Kotsis, Courtesy of the artist.
Phillip Warnell, Courtesy Big Other Films.