ALEX BAILEY + KRÕÕT JUURAK - Performances for Pets, Presentation

Krõõt Juurak and Alex Bailey present their project Performances for Pets. The artistic duo have been performing for pets since 2014 and will talk about how their practice of performing for pets has developed over the years, how entertainment of pets compares to human entertainment, the differences between audiences across species and how art for pets might be a common thing in the future, just like art for children is now.

Performances for Pets are interspecies performances specifically designed for various species of pets. The course of the performance is open-ended depending on the reactions from the animal-audience. Accordingly, the performances are to be understood as a direct and unpredictable form of communication: an offer that the animals can also withdraw from. The pets as recipients also reverse the traditional roles of animals being trained to entertain humans. Juurak and Bailey try to find a zone of indiscernibility between the human and the nonhuman, suggesting a de-anthropomorphisation of their relationships in favour of assuming similarities regarding the life and sensemaking quest of animals and artists.

CONCEPT + REALISATION: Krõõt Juurak and Alex Bailey
DRAMATURGICAL SUPPORT: Bina Lunzer (dog trainer) Petra Ott (cat psychologist)
PRODUCTION: Kulturtier - Kunst und Kultur für Tiere und Menschen
SUPPORTED BY: SHIFT
REPRESENTED BY: Galerie.International

Krõõt Juurak (Estonia) and Alex Bailey (UK) are artists and performers working and living in Vienna. They received there MFA from the Sandberg Institute of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. Their recent performance collaborations include Animal Jokes (for Animals) performed at Secession, Vienna, Xing, Bologna and Bonnefanten Museum Maastricht, Animal Show performed at WUK Performing Arts, Vienna and since 2014 Performances for Pets which has been performed at various homes in Zürich, Amsterdam, Brussels, Erlangen, Vienna, Tallinn and Berlin.