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Why
Look at Animals?
- 2008next
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(9’
x 5’ x 3.5’) – Looping video projection
(14 minute duration), acrylic fur, fabric, mirror, wire and wood
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In
this video installation, viewers can capture video images of
animals on a furry, handheld animal-shaped screen. The videos
were collected from a wide variety of live animal webcams over
the course of a year and compiled into a continuously streaming
loop. I was inspired by the essay, "Why Look at Animals?" by
John Berger, in which he considers how human-animal relations have
changed since the 19th century. Berger notes the breakdown
of "every tradition which has previously mediated between
man and nature". In my installation, I consider a new tradition
of mediation that did not exist when the essay was written in 1980.
One in which we point our webcams at animals and then use our internet
browsers to watch them. Perhaps it is because they look good on
camera and merely provide a spectacle for us, but it could also
be that animals matter to us and we want to know what they are
doing when they are not with us. |
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Looking
for animals on live webcams is like going on a desk chair
safari. The animals are not always in the camera view,
so most of the time you have to spend some time watching and
revisiting the web cams to see very much. I spent untold hours over
the course of a year recording video from webcams and I developed
a fondness for many of the animals. Here are a few of my favorite
(and still live) animal cams:
- The
Brooklyn Bunny -
a beautiful Dwarf Hotot house bunny named Roebling. I designed
a Superstar
webcam animal button for
him.
- Columbus
Peregrine Falcon Nest - Located in downtown Columbus and
brought to you by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,
Division of Wildlife
- Flossy
the pig - she lives a peaceful life of sleeping and eating
on a college farm in England. She is too famous to eat. I
designed a Superstar
webcam animal button for her.
- Toledo
Zoo Hippo Cam - view these beauties underwater, sometimes
you can see the reflections of visitors in the glass, watching
the hippos.
- Dogcaster -
Nikki the dog has a Superstar
Webcam animal button
- Jason's
Interactive Fishcam - you can open and close the mouth
of a web-enabled toy aligator in the tank
- San
Diego Zoo's Panda Cam - high tech multiple camera system that
follows the Panda action. I designed a Superstar
Webcam animal button for Bai Yun, who is seen on camera 4, 5, 6 and 7.
- Fuzzybutt
Ferrets -
this one has sound, so you can hear the ferret baby noises
- Border
Collies - puppies
- Kitty
Cam by Mythic Bells - Tiny
Bear is my fav cat in this Persian cattery, I designed
for her a Superstar
Webcam animal
button
- Aquarium
cams - 4 research aquariums at Cal Poly Pomona
- Sheep,
Chickens and Pigs - they hang out in the barn together
on a farm in the Netherlands
- Eagle
Nest Cam -
my favorite one is offline, so I've replaced it with this
new one
- Dog
grooming window in Japan
- Monkey
Centre - in Japan
- Bug
cam - usually ladybugs
- Shamu
Cam - see him swimming underwater at the SeaWorld
- Wimsey
Bulldogs - usually lots of puppies on camera here
- Roach
camera - at the University of South Carolina, not a video
cam, but the still cam images are superb
- Doggy
playroom - at the Bone Adventure Dog Daycare
- Bunnies
for Babies - a
new one, super cute, hopefully it stays live
Many
more animal webcams can be found on UStream
animals, Camstream
pet animals and Justin.tv animals
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