Bühnentier - Animal on Stage

Year of Origin 2017, continuing

Technic
Mixed Media, Performance, Sculptur, Film, Photography

Reconstruction of a thought Construction
Bühnentier starts with the butchering of the animal: Cut it according to the rules of slaughtering, take all single parts and prepare them using the most conventional methods. The emphasis however should not be the actual preparing. The process of cooking/frying/baking becomes effective through its own thorough perfection, but won’t be taken into account, because it is simply taken for granted. The real objective of the project is the following reassembling of the single prepared pieces, which have not been completely deformed, or become totally unrecognizable in their morphology through the process of preparing.

The result is a sculpture of the used animal in which all single pieces differ very clearly from each other. Through these different methods of preparing which all follow certain traditions and the “reassembling” of the pieces, the viewer is able to reassign the single parts in the sculpture, recognize them all and comprehend the metamorphosis. Emphasizing once more on the morphology of the single pieces/extremities is a key issue: Through the process of preparing/cooking, they may only be slightly transformed. The animal as such with its own image, its indigenous appearance has to clearly reflect a unit and remain that way.

At the end of the project the sculpture will be eaten up. The edibility and the sustainability of the meat product of the used animal won’t be affected by this action. The cycle of the living animal, from the source of a meat product, to the slaughtering process, from the preparation methods to the finished meals, will only be interrupted before the final consumption via the act of “reassembling“ the finished products to the original image of the processed animal.

The reconstruction of the morphology of the animal in the most natural possible way, brings the prepared pieces/meat parts back to the context of the entire creature; it eliminates its anonymisation of being a simple meat consumer product and through the preparation process stays clearly defined/differentiated. The reflection within the viewer, who at this point, starts taking the position of the consumer, arises accordingly from the context of the whole process. They find themself and their eating behavior confronted with the actual source of the product – the animal in its entirety. (2017)

Partner/Links Oliver Geissbüchler

Works

Year of origin: 2024, 15+3 AE
Measurement I (Edition 3+1 AE): 300,00 x 200,00 cm
Measurement II (Edition 5+1 AE): 150 x 100,00 cm
Measurement III (Edition 7+1 AE): 90,00 x 60,00 cm
Print/Material: Direct Print on Acrylic Glass (4mm) plus Alu Dibond (3mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (15mm) Photography: Fabian Gasperl

Year of origin: 2023, 3+1 AE
Measurement (Edition 3+1 AE): 70 x 50 cm
Print/Material: ChromaLuxe Metal Print, Aluminum gloss (1,2mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (8mm) Photography: Fabian Gasperl

Year of origin: 2023, 15+3 AE
Measurement I (Edition 3+1 AE): 187,50 x 150 cm
Measurement II (Edition 5+1 AE): 125,00 x 100,00 cm
Measurement III (Edition 7+1 AE): 75,00 x 60,00 cm
Print/Material: Direct Print on Acrylic Glass (4mm) plus Alu Dibond (3mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (15mm) Photography: Roland Zygmunt

Year of origin: 2021, 3+1 AE
Measurement (Edition 3+1 AE): 105 x 70 cm
Print/Material: ChromaLuxe Metal Print, Aluminum gloss (1,2mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (8mm) Photography: Fabian Gasperl

Year of origin: 2021, 3+1 AE
Measurement (Edition 3+1 AE): 70 x 50 cm
Print/Material: ChromaLuxe Metal Print, Aluminum gloss (1,2mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (8mm) Photography: Fabian Gasperl

Year of origin: 2017, 3+1 AE
Measurement (Edition 3+1 AE) 42,7 x 64 cm
Print/Material: ChromaLuxe Metal Print, Aluminum gloss (1,2mm), Aluminum blind frame profile (8mm) Photography: Fabian Gasperl