Arte de contacto interespecies: Las prácticas artísticas contemporáneas de cuidado hacia los animales no humanos

Abstract

The presence of animals throughout the history of art is marked by an exceptionalist humanism that has resorted to the animal as a mirror of human identity. The dematerialization of art in the 1990s favored the development of face-to-face, performative and relational artistic practices.  However, in contemporary art, a utilitarian vision persists in relation to non-human animals that categorizes them as 'instruments'. This article aims to contrast the conceptual approaches and strategies that differ between artistic creation in an anthropocentric framework, and that which is proposed from an interspecies alternative of care and empathy. We propose to highlight an expanding ecological consciousness that rethinks the modes of interspecies creation, highlighting the recent work of artists such as Jenny Kendler and Maja Smrekar, who question our way of relating to each other while proposing symbolic alternatives that enhance our empathy.