DIY: 2016 – Angela Bartram ‘Be Your Dog’

THE DEADLINE FOR THIS DIY HAS NOW PASSED

Lots of dogs, lots of humans: experiencing what it is to be the other through collaboration

Project summary

Be Your Dog is about establishing relationships beyond the hierarchies of pet and owner. This will see participants and their dogs attend workshops over two consecutive weekends to learn how to establish empathy, equality and connection. This will include learning strategies for dog and human to ‘be’ equals with each other and developmental discussion. A concluding public event will be staged following the workshops where all participants, human and dog, will perform as collaborators. 

Participants

Be Your Dog invites humans and their dogs willing to experiment with the question of the human and animal to explore the companion species dynamic.  You will engage in actions, such as being ‘mutual’ together and mirroring behavior, to learn to be, and to understand the other. Human participants should be open to the idea that their dog is an equal in their relationship; the dogs are expected to be happy and loved.

The application requires interested dog owners to write a 200-word statement stating how they consider their dog and what their relationship is like, their dog’s character and breed, why they wish to participate and what they hope to gain from the experience. 

Dates, times and location

Dates: 29 – 30 Oct, 5 – 6 Nov 2016
Times: TBC 
Location: KARST, Plymouth
This DIY is supported by KARST

The artist

Angela Bartram works in live art, video and sculpture and published text. Her interests concern threshold and ‘in-between’ spaces of the human and animal body, gallery or museum and definitions of the human and animal within companion species relationships. She has worked in collaboration with her dog Woofer until his death in 2012, and as part of Bartram O’Neill since 2009. She completed a PhD at Middlesex University in 2010 and is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Lincoln in the department of Fine Art.