Ingresso Animali Vivi, 2023
Experimental documentary film
Single channel video, HD, colour, sound, 14′ 40″
Do Animals… ?, 2017
5 posters
Courtesy of the artist
Do animals born in captivity dream of freedom? Are they aware they are bred to be a product? These are some of the questions raised by Igor Grubić in this latest experimental film. Shot at night inside a former slaughterhouse in Italy, Ingresso Animali Vivi (Live Animal Entrance) is a cross between documentary and fiction. The protagonist, a dog, is the only animal to enter and exit this spectral chamber of horrors alive. The non-human point of view chosen by the artist intends to highlight the feeling of compassion and empathy between the dog and the animals destined from birth to become products for our tables; their skeletal presence hovers in this “factory of death”. Grubić creates an alarming, chilling atmosphere that confronts the viewers with the evident failure of humankind to protect the planet, to care for the welfare of animals, and our inability or unwillingness to reassess its habits.
Alongside the video, a series of posters/banners entitled Do Animals…? are displayed on the Museum’s exterior and in the surrounding public space.
Igor Grubić was born in Zagreb, Croatia, where he lives and works.
Igor Grubić has been active as a multimedia artist since the early 1990s, focusing on socio-political issues through site-specific interventions, photography, and film. Focusing on past and present political situations, from an in-depth exploration of the fate of historical monuments and the demise of industry, to an examination of the predicament of minority communities and the plight of factory farmed animals, although grounded in documentary tradition, his work is characterised by an affective and empathic approach, which is deeply humane.
