The Ill Rabbit: „Our Common Problem: People”

Press Information
Friday 17 April 2009

“It’s difficult for me to imagine that human beings are simply people just like us,” says a turkey on Linz’s Pfarrplatz. Five animals chat with those who come to visit this installation by Finnish artist Tea Mäkipää, discussing themselves and elaborating on their respective views of humankind. This third project in the ILL RABBIT series premieres on Wednesday, April 22 at 2 PM with a photo shoot of the protagonists.

Tea Mäkipää’s installation on Linz’s Pfarrplatz includes five living animals: two donkeys, two turkeys and a dog. They interact with one another and converse with audience members, offering commentary (in German) about life from their own individual points of view. And it turns out that these perspectives are highly diverse, since every creature leads a life with its own personal style and substance. For instance, the dog profits from its very friendly disposition towards human beings, which makes it an ideal domestic pet. The donkeys’ task is much different: they work in the tourism industry giving people rides in return for cash compensation. Both turkeys, on the other hand, are employed in the meat industry.

“Each animal has a matching hut scaled to its respective physical size. Each hut is adorned by a small plastic palm tree standing in front of it,” Mäkipää said. Grass paths lead to the huts. “This biotope constructed in suburban row house style is surrounded by a steel wire fence to keep the animals inside and the human beings out.” Mäkipää’s efforts as an artist deal with humankind’s inability to develop an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. She’s exhibited her work in Helsinki, New York, Berlin, Vienna and Miami. “Our Common Problem: People” will run on Pfarrplatz in Linz April 22-May 14, 2009.

“Our Common Problem: People” is part of The Ill Rabbit // Crazy about Linz project being produced by KunstRaum Goethestrasse xtd / pro mente Upper Austria in cooperation with Linz09. The centerpiece of this 13-part series is a question: “How much craziness can one province stand?” Artists from Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, German and Austria will be proposing answers in the form of installations and interventions in public spaces running until October 2009.

Details: www.kunstraum.at, www.linz09.at/der-kranke-hase and www.tea-makipaa.eu
With inquiries about THE ILL RABBIT project, please call Susanne Blaimschein of KunstRaum Goethestrasse xtd / pro mente Upper Austria at +43/ (0) 664 544 51 44.