Liv Schellander (AT), Alexandra Wingate (SE) and Lena Kimming (SE/UK) research, co-choreograph and perform as a collective, which they call Animalarium.
Climate change and global catastrophes imply that we are facing urgency and emergency on a mass scale. And we are all in this together. Animalariums most recent work Animalariums’ Constellations and Shows For Extinction engage with some of these topics and aims to propose creative and transformative ways to deal, and to engage through live art.
The idea that embodiment might be a fundamental feature of thinking and relating to our world is central for us here. In Animalariums’ Constellations we use the method of Choreo-Constellation to enact some of our times’ burning issues and to bring the collective unconscious onto the stage.
What are the conditions that are necessary to join in the experience of kinship? How do we experience that everything is interconnected? How can we navigate these personal and collective issues with care, ideally moving beyond survival mode, invoking hope?
In our previous works we searched to create intriguing connections between show and entertainment formats featuring humans and those using other animals. We developed a practice that allows us to make instant choreography for the screen and challenge the threshold of how we experience live and recorded: we work with multiple cameras that are placed in such a way that what they see, record and stream is drastically different from what the live audience experience with us in the room or theatre. Our desire is to highlight how “the power of a format” can shape the behaviour, thoughts, and emotions of the performing subjects and the audience.
In which way do we use other animals to reinforce human centric narratives about gender and our relationship to nature and its other inhabitants? And what can it mean to be and perform as a human animal in the 21st century?
In 2024, Animalarium premiered Constellation #1 Dawn obliges us to dream at 3:e Våningen, Gothenburg. The work was created in collaboration with Ina Dokmo. Animalarium has previously presented works at 3:e Våningen, Fylkingen Stockholm, Gothenburg International Biennial for Contemporary Art, Raw Matters, Vitlycke – Center for Performing Arts and live steamed at Riksteatern, Periscope and their own web platform. They were selected for Perform Europe 2025 and awarded a home residency at Davvi – Center for Performing Arts in 2025. They were awarded the production residency at Riksteatern in 2021 and the International Dance Residency from Swedish Arts Grants Committee in 2019.
Works
2024 Constellation#1 Dawn obliges us to dream
2021 Shows for Extinction
2021 Shows for Shows
2016 Animalarium – a pop up Zoo
2016 Animalarium the films
2016 Animalarium
Animalarium has received support from Perform Europe, Davvi – Center for Performing Arts, Riksteatern Stockholm, Ställbergs gruva, 3:e Våningen, WUK – Performing Arts, Vitlycke – Center for Performing Arts, Scenkonst Gerlesborg, Raw Matters Vienna, Danscentrum Väst, BMKÖS Vienna, The Swedish Arts Grant Committee, Västra Götaland Regional Council, Göteborg City, Tanum municipality and ACT OUT, a project of the IG Freie Theaterarbeit, funded by BMEIA Austria.
Animalarium 