'Das Manteltier' And The Robotic Zoo

Two years ago I stumbled upon Banksy’s pet shop in New York City. It was amazing. Not only the statement made by the street artist from East London was thrilling, but also the way it was made. Moving chicken nuggets and sausages were presented as if they were the cute little pets one wants to buy in a pet shop and love the rest of his life.

In the zoo of Münster, the German-based design and action group Neozoon recently performed a comparable action. The project entitled ‘Das Manteltier’, which means ‘the coat animal’, features moving fur coats presented as if they are the new living attraction. Watching the movie, one really recognizes the confusion by the zoo’s visitors. Some of them don’t even notice that these animals are not for real, which is a great piece of preconditioning in itself.

Although I couldn’t find much explanation about this project on the Internet, I guess it is meant to be an anti-fur action. In addition, it fundamentally sharpens the discussion of the future zoo. Earlier we posted about the concept zoo, a real life zoo where man and animal share their primary routines. To the contrary, this project drops the question whether or not the idea of a robotic zoo could be possible and interesting in the future.