Video and photos 1-6: Magda Kowalska creepart
Last photo: Urszula Danielska
Last photo: Urszula Danielska
Can you hear me? Can you see me?
The limit of sentience is the only defensible boundary of concern for interests of others. – Peter Singer 'Animal Liberation' – The audiovisual installation 'Can you hear me? Can you see me?' was one of the three parts of my master's degree. The other two parts were 'Oto kot' (This is a cat), a series of posters, and a theoretical essay 'Animals as a material in contemporary art. Reflections on artistic freedom and moral responsibilities '. All three parts of the diploma were about redefining the human-animal relationship from a posthuman perspective. The installation arose from the ethical dilemmas that I was faced with when my cat developed cancer. In 'Can you hear...' I used ultrasound recordings to point out that there's no difference whose body the cancer grows in; whether it belongs to a human or a non-human being. All pain is pain. All fear is fear. All suffering is suffering. 'Can you hear me? Can you see me?' audiovisual installation video, sound supervision: prof. Andrzej Sołyga, Faculty of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw | 2018 | Special thanks to Tomasz Dominiak, a veterinary oncologist, and Krzysztof Podhorec, a veterinary radiologist, from the Dom-Vet Veterinary Clinic. Above all, I would like to thank Filip, my cat - you taught me the most.