The contemporary art trail Animals of the Mind was conceived as part of Luxembourg Urban Garden (LUGA). Inspired by the main LUGA theme, “Making the invisible visible”, it takes the form of a series of site-specific sculptures, installations, video works, performances and interventions revolving around the animal figure.
To say that animals have been an object of artistic interest since the dawn of time is to state the obvious. Each era in human history has developed its own codes of representation which, directly or indirectly, bear witness to our coexistence with non-humans, for better or for worse. In these depictions, animals generally hold a symbolic function, invariably conceived from an anthropocentric perspective.
Today, at a time when biodiversity itself is in danger of collapsing, how can we not see the proliferation of animal motifs in everyday life as a reflection of our growing alienation from nature? By exploring the tensions arising from this apparent contradiction, the works created for Animals of the Mind aim to actively engage visitors in the debates on our evolving relationships with the living, which are at the heart of the LUGA project.