Magenta presents Mink Festival, an exhibition inspired by the zoo of the pandemic:

December 21, 2020 - March 21, 2021

The animal in the pandemic, the animal and the pandemic.

The animal as a cause of the pandemic_bats and other animals packed and sold in markets

The animal as a pet saviour _ the dog as an extension, a passport for exit during the lockdowns

The animal as a postponed accessory hecatomb_ million minks killed, just in case they may have transmitted a mutation of the virus to humans

Humans care for their dead. The minks are also our dead, not just the human victims of the pandemic.

Has the pandemic trauma rendered us indifferent, or are we embodying the trauma, obtaining the power of our coronavirus enemy by performing a mass animal killing?

“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was…”
Sonya Renee Taylor

The Viral and Racial Pandemic confirms that the structures established for collective order in the United States of America failed. Colleges are run like companies and the criminal justice system like corporations. Corporations are bailed out with trillions of tax-payer’s dollars while citizens are made homeless by eviction. At our nation’s border desperate families are separated, and children caged. Hospitals struggle with depleted resources during a global pandemic, and police continue to brutalize black citizens. All this while the U.S. elected President orders the use of clubs and tear gas on peaceful protesters to enable a quick photo shoot with a bible.

Many in the United States of America clearly do not have the inalienable rights promised to them by the Constitution. The ‘Great American Dream’– championed as the right of every citizen– is a sham. Hard work does not guarantee success for all. Racism, classism, xenophobia, islamophobia, and homophobia are deeply rooted in our democracy. The American Normal is a culture steeped in severe inequities and greed.

Curated by Furusho von Puttkammer, the sixteenth annual Art in Odd Places (AiOP): NORMAL is a public art and performance festival taking place from Avenue C to the Hudson River along 14th st in Manhattan, NY. Innovative multi and interdisciplinary hybrid projects that explore & expose the American Mythos, and actively engage the public, including installation, sculpture, and performance will be presented in the public realm.