In Animalarium we propose ourselves as domesticated human animals and search to create intriguing connections between show and entertainment formats featuring humans and those using other animals. What can it mean to be and perform as a human animal in the 21st century?

We are developing a practise 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 experiences 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.

How do we experience ourselves, our bodies, and each other live and on screen? And in which way do we use other animals to reinforce human centric narratives about gender and our relationship to nature and its other inhabitants?

Lena Kimming (SE/UK), Liv Schellander (AT) and Alexandra Wingate (SE) research, co-choreograph and perform as a collective, which they call Animalarium. They will premiere their upcoming work Shows for Extinction in 2024 in Austria and Sweden.

Animalarium has received support from Riksteatern Stockholm, Ställbergs gruva, 3:e Våningen, Vitlycke – Center for Performing Arts, Raw Matters Vienna, Danscentrum Väst, BMKÖS Vienna, The Swedish Arts Grant Committee, Västra Götaland Regional Council, Göteborg city and Tanums municipality.