CURIOSITY AND CONTROL

”There’s a fine line between loving something and possessing it”

David Hancocks

Curiosity and Control is a journey through western museums of natural history and zoological gardens with reflections upon these by historians, architects, zoo directors and a museologist. The stories told in this film deal with curiosity, control, the urge to preserve and how to connect with the natural world. The film also portrays the legendary explorer Carl Akeley, who is often called “the father of taxidermy”, and his creation of the dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. These dioramas were created with the intention to spread awareness about the natural world just as contemporary zoological gardens aim to connect people with nature.

As we follow the construction of an extension of Chester Zoo, UK, called “Islands”

-an immersion exhibit resembling South East Asia-the participants discuss how nature can be reconstructed and the importance of reminding us of nature. But is

it for the benefit of nature itself or what it can give to us? Do dioramas and zoos

any longer play a role in spreading awareness about biodiversity or has television taken over this role? Curiosity and Control explores the thin line between curiosity,

dominion, appreciation and control.

Running time: 58mins, Languages: English/French.

Directed by Albin Biblom, produced by Adam Marko-Nord & Sara Waldestam..

BACKGROUND

“Science is a jealous mistress and take’s little account of man’s feelings”,

Carl Akeley wrote in his diary 1921, during his expedition in Belgian Congo

while collecting specimen for his dioramas at American Museum of Natural History. The killing of gorillas affected Akeley to the extent that he later would

urge to create a sanctuary for mountain gorillas, realising that the extensive hunting and collecting would lead to extinction. The background of Curiosity and Control started out in the 90’s; spellbound by Akeley’s dioramas and as a frequent visitor to zoological gardens I travelled around photographing the attempts of recreating “nature” in museums and zoos. The ambiguous feelings these places evoked would over the years form the base for the documentary Curiosity and Control. Encouraged by my producer Adam Marko-Nord I went back to the dioramas-still the same-and also to the many zoological gardens that hadn’t changed much, approaching these institutions as places of longing, prestige, preservation, projections and order.

Our complex relation to nature involves the thin line between admiration and exploitation as well as bringing order into the world that surrounds us. As former zoo director David Hancock’s put’s it: “There’s a fine line between loving something and possessing it”.

Participants: Penelope Bodry-Sanders, Peter van Mensch, Michel Saint Jalme,

David Hancocks, Mark Pilgrim, Dale Jamieson, Stephen C. Quinn, Daniela Kalthoff,

Éric Baratay, Lars-Erik Larsson & Kieran Stanley.

WATCH

PUBLICATION

Publication & Texts

1/11

Exploring the ethics of collecting and presenting nature within the world of zoological gardens and natural history museums, this publication is a complement to the documentary film Curiosity and Control, including a link to the film, photographs and interviews with zoo directors David Hancocks and Michel Saint-Jalme, architects Sue Chin and Kieran Stanley, museologist Peter van Mensch and philosopher Dale W Jamieson. With an afterword by author Helena Granström.

Biblom Press 2022, 52 pages,

287 x 400 mm, 1500 copies. ORDER HERE