SciArt Magazine - All Issues February 2016 | Page 18

that the only certainty is uncertainty. Wittgenstein
wrote, “if a lion could talk we could not understand
him,” perhaps implying that we do not have the ability to comprehend the alternate universe that exists
in the mind of a nonhuman animal.
Keeping this in mind, I try to remain aware of my
anthropomorphic assumptions, but I think these
experiences have made me realize that our language
is indeed very different, and it is worth engaging and
learning to embrace the chaos of plans gone awry.
The work shown in “Humanimalands” is really a bestcase scenario. Raccoons are fairly habituated to humans and do not have such a strong flight instinct as
deer or other shy animals. It is also advantageous to
have a long period of time. Often animals are afraid
of anything new in their environment and it can take
weeks for them to become bold enough to approach
even something as benign as a carrot.
DK: Your work is heavily influenced by biology, but also
often incorporates food. This dichotomy between living organisms and cooked food really symbolizes one way humanity frequently modifies nature’s ecology. How does this cycle
(from living thing to human nourishment) motivate your
creative process?
DS: Claude Lévi-Strauss observed, “cooking food is
a metaphor for the human transformation of nature
into culture.” Cooking is the thing that separates us
from other animals, but it can also be the thing that
brings us together. Cooking and its relationship to
domestication and the taming of the wild initiates
our long history of manipulating the natural world
to suit our desires. The theme of the manipulation
of nature is a big one for me and I think food is a
perfect metaphor for this idea, especially the sculptural displays of food from the 19th century though
the 1960s that I usually model my presentations after.
They become so architectural and non–food–like, it’s
a wonder anyone ever ate them. Also, serving food is
the best way to make friends. We use feasts to celebrate significant events and also to enjoy the company of loved ones. In the wild kingdom it serves as the
easiest way to attract animals to places where they
can be observed without forcing them into confinement. In a way, they remain there on their own terms
and it makes it possible for me to film animals just
being animals.

looking at are timely and complex. I would love to
think that my works fuels a discussion that could help
bring about creative ways of problem solving. We are
in the midst of an epoch where the destruction of
animal habitats and exploded development has forced
us to live in close proximity with other species. Every
week I read in the paper of bear sightings in Florida,
raccoon evictions in Brooklyn, baboons in Cape
Town, and leopards in Mumbai. Nobody wants to
hurt these animals, but we have yet to come up with
an effective way to live together.
DK: You frequently collaborate with your husband, Mark
Dion. How does working with another artist shape your
process? What are a few recent collaborations you two
worked on together?
DS: While Mark and I make different kinds of work,
there is a strong overlap in the poetics of environmental concern and we both spend a good deal of
time in the field, sometimes working with scientists
and naturalists. We are very easy collaborators, and
when we work together we are able to feed off each
other’s ideas in a very productive way. This is a rare
gift. We are really due for another collaboration soon.
The last project we did together was in 2012, called
Encrustations, and was part of an exhibition called “International Orange,” celebrating the 75th anniversary
of the Golden Gate Bridge. The show was at Fort
Point, a Civil War era fort situated directly below
the bridge. It is a place of extreme weather, prone to
flooding by the turbulent sea at its doorstep. In fact,
the only battle that ever happened there was between
the fort and the sea. The work imagines the structure had been engulfed and submerged by the Pacific
Ocean, and the various personal and military objects
left behind were both destroyed and transformed
by the ocean, releasing them into a new life and life
forms. The objects, hous VB