Product
Silvestrini, Tanja (2023-10-04)
Taideyliopiston Kuvataideakatemia
04.10.2023
Maisterin opinnäytetyö
tila-aikataiteet
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20231208152318
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20231208152318
Tiivistelmä
My thesis work is called The Pet Shop, and is a multifaceted installation and durational performance work in the form of a conceptual human pet shop/adoption service, taking place online, in participants’ homes and as a multimedia installation and live performance in Kuvan Kevät 2023.
The Pet Shop is a real, fictional business that offers anthropomorphic pets for temporary adoption. I hand sewed four pet costumes that I photographed with models in a photo studio, using the photos as marketing images for The Pet Shop’s official website and instagram account. Through the website people could access an adoption interest form, from which they get the opportunity to live with a human pet for 24 hours.
During Spring 2023 I was adopted by four different households as their bunny, guinea pig, rat and hamster. My owners were instructed through a consent agreement how to care for me and to document our life with their phone camera. At the end of the adoption I took a photo of us in my owners’ home. Afterwards I kept a diary writing about the experience from my perspective as a pet, which I then made an audio recording of. The videos, photographs, consent agreements and diary recordings were presented as a part of my hamster house installation in Kuva/Tila gallery. In addition, I made a 15 min performative business pitch with self composed electronic music to accompany the installation.
The work is an immersive exploration of interpersonal- and interspecies relationships, with a special focus on care, intimacy, trust and the power structures that shape them. By framing the work as a business, I tap into consumerism, otherness and desire, questioning what is normal and natural in a reality shaped and run by fictions.
This written part is trying to fill in the blanks of my motivation and drive, explaining why choices have been made the way they have. The title Product refers to an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale and a thing or person that is the result of an action or process.
The Pet Shop is a real, fictional business that offers anthropomorphic pets for temporary adoption. I hand sewed four pet costumes that I photographed with models in a photo studio, using the photos as marketing images for The Pet Shop’s official website and instagram account. Through the website people could access an adoption interest form, from which they get the opportunity to live with a human pet for 24 hours.
During Spring 2023 I was adopted by four different households as their bunny, guinea pig, rat and hamster. My owners were instructed through a consent agreement how to care for me and to document our life with their phone camera. At the end of the adoption I took a photo of us in my owners’ home. Afterwards I kept a diary writing about the experience from my perspective as a pet, which I then made an audio recording of. The videos, photographs, consent agreements and diary recordings were presented as a part of my hamster house installation in Kuva/Tila gallery. In addition, I made a 15 min performative business pitch with self composed electronic music to accompany the installation.
The work is an immersive exploration of interpersonal- and interspecies relationships, with a special focus on care, intimacy, trust and the power structures that shape them. By framing the work as a business, I tap into consumerism, otherness and desire, questioning what is normal and natural in a reality shaped and run by fictions.
This written part is trying to fill in the blanks of my motivation and drive, explaining why choices have been made the way they have. The title Product refers to an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale and a thing or person that is the result of an action or process.
Kokoelmat
- Kirjalliset opinnäytteet [1548]