Bill Burns

COMMENT AIDER LES ANIMAUX À S’ÉCHAPPER D’UN HABITAT DÉGRADÉ
02.12–03.15.1998

We are familiar with Japanese virtual pets and the emotional comfort they provide. We also recognize the progressive mindset wherein humans pose a danger to themselves while attempting to adapt the world to their own needs. Humans must safeguard themselves against their own activities—which still involve many unpredictable variables—by employing all manner of protective systems, yet they often fail to grasp the irony inherent in such measures, such as taking out insurance. Incidentally, they inflict similar hazardous consequences upon flora and fauna. It is through a logic of prevention—albeit one that is inverted and parodic—that Bill Burns presents *How to Help Animals Escape from a Degraded Habitat*. There is something both amusing and unsettling about these allegorical natural history demonstrations. Kits designed specifically for small animals provide species-appropriate protection. These represent “humanized” survival resources scaled down for animals—safety goggles, respirators, work gloves—intended to make the ecosystem, as transformed by humans, suitable for animal life. The solutions offered have a didactic air, aiming to raise human awareness through exaggerated imagery. Burns creates tension within his own discourse, rendering it paradoxical by using, for instance, stuffed animals for his demonstrations. Ultimately, the aim is to overturn the concepts of survival and safety that position nature as the primary source.
Patrice Duhamel