Igor Grubić

Do Animals ... ?

 multidisciplinary project (5 posters, photographs, film), 2017

Do Animals…? (2017) is a multimedia project based on the artist’s research on former slaughterhouses in northern Italy during his time in the RAVE East Village Artist Residency program. As a staunch supporter of animal rights and moreover as an activist, Grubić investigates the psychological effect these factories of death have on human consciousness. The work is composed of a series of five posters that feature photographs of now empty former slaughterhouses, overwritten with the artist’s questions, that appear in the city center in the form of anonymous ads. Silent and cold, but at the same time distinctly disturbing, the images are visually conceived as the path an animal takes from life to death, from light to darkness. Like a surreal call to public moral responsibility, through his work the artist introduces the general public to his examination of humankind’s conflicted feelings towards animals, taking full advantage of commercial mainstream media – urban billboards. This compelling urban intervention has already been shown in six northern Italian cities (including Turin, Trieste, and Udine). The Do Animals…? project is also accompanied by a film shot inside these former slaughterhouses at night, together with interviews with former slaughterhouse employees. 

Adriana Rispoli

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Igor Grubić has worked as a multimedia artist since the early 1990s. His work includes site-specific interventions in public spaces, photography, and film. In 2000, he started working as a producer and author of documentaries, TV reports, and socially engaged advertising. His work has been exhibited in various international institutions and at different artistic and cultural events. He has been awarded several times. He has exhibited at venues and events including Manifesta 4, Frankfurt; 2nd Tirana Biennial; 50th October Salon, Belgrade; 11th Istanbul Biennial; 4 Fotofestival, Mannheim; Manifesta 9, Genk; Gwangju Biennale 20th Anniversary Special Project; East Side Stories, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; 5th Thessaloniki Biennale Ident-Alter-Ity; Zero Tolerance, MoMA PS1, New York.