PARROT TERRISTORIES
Hörner/Antlfinger in collaboration with
Nick Byaba and CMUK
Oct 10th 2024 — March 30th 2025
TA T, Tieranatomisches Theater, Research in Display at
Humboldt-Universität Berlin
From 2009 to 2018, Karl the grey parrot and his companion Clara lived with Ute Hörner and Mathias Antlfinger. During this time, parrots and humans worked together as the interspecies collective CMUK and explored different ways of cooperation, exchange and learning from each other. They created sculptures, paintings, video and sound recordings.
After Karl‘s death at the age of around 60, Hörner/Antlfinger were faced with new questions about the cohabitation of animals and humans: Where did Karl, who found his way to them from an animal shelter in Berlin, but was most likely born in freedom and later captured, originally come from? What is his story and that of many other grey parrots that have been moved all over the world since the transatlantic enslavement trade? How have humans and parrots met historically? What images have shaped this history and how can they be looked at differently today?
Hörner/Antlfinger travelled to Uganda, where they collaborated with environmental activist Nick Byaba to explore the habitats of the parrots. Reflecting on Karl’s ancestors led them to European museums. There, they attempted to trace the individual histories of the parrots between Africa and Europe, using the available information on the history and provenance of the collections, as well as other forms of knowledge.
Curated by Felix Sattler
Cooperation partners: Dr Sylke Frahnert, Dr Katja Kaiser, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (advice on the history of science) / Christine Bluard, Annelore Nackaerts, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium / Prof Nancy Jacobs, Brown University, USA / Dr Vanessa Wijngaarden, University of Johannesburg, South Africa, University of Liège, Belgium.
Funded by: Kunststiftung NRW, Capital Cutural Fund Berlin, Academy of Media Arts Cologne
TA T, Tieranatomisches Theater Berlin
Images © Hörner/Antlfinger and Michael Pfisterer