Towards a theory of the performanymal. From representation to animal presence in contemporary art

Abstract

This paper analyzes certain expressions of contemporary art that intend to apprehend living nature by going beyond the traditional logic of representation in the Western world. Even though the European art tradition has always dealt with the challenging life/nature/art relationship, only in the 20th century did artists start representing living beings in their works. However, many are the ways in which the living can be represented, and so are their –mostly unexpected– results. In this paper we resort to the concept of performanymal, asserting it as a tool that allows us to approach a number of initiatives that, in line with certain philosophical neovitalist currents and innovative biology paradigms, make an attempt to make the living «present» instead of trying to represent it via signs, symbols, or objective reductions. This paper lays out a study focusing on three key manifestations in the history of European art (Jean Painlevé’s surrealist-scientific cinema, the performative actions by Walter Marchetti and The Zaj Group, and Pierre Huyghe’s «live situations») that share an interest in delving into error, randomness, and play –notions that speak of nature as a dynamic reality that exceeds all determinisms, thus calling into question certain artistic and philosophical categories of the Western tradition.