CONFRONTING THE ANIMAL IN THE SINGAPORE ZOO

Abstract

Zoos are a place where humans are able to meet the animal and are brought closer to the other that we do not fully understand and struggle to define, offering tangible contact with nature. In doing so, we are forced to confront our preconceived understanding of the animal other.

The design of zoos of animals has evolved continuously. The trends of displaying animals are updated in tandem with the developments of society’s attitudes towards animals and nature. Thus, zoos and their exhibits are abstractions of reality —the reality of the natural as well as the reality of the human-animal relationship. Additionally, man’s perception of the animal can also be influenced by what he sees in the zoo when he interprets these abstractions. The Singapore Zoo has recognised this capacity and shifted its focus towards the agenda of education. This is the absolute artistic volition that drives the creation of exhibits. The Zoo’s ideals regarding understanding of the animal is abstracted in the exhibit design, and visitors are to interpret this, which depends on each individual’s knowledge and experiences. However, this can limit the effectiveness of such zoo exhibits as the viewer’s preconceptions hinder his reading of the abstraction. As such, is the abstraction aesthetic the most effective way to engage in education? Do these exhibits allow us to confront the animal other and challenge our preconceived understanding of the animal, or are they merely reflections of what we already know?

Although the urge to empathy could provide an alternative method of designing zoo exhibits, the conditions of captivity mean that zoo exhibits are always abstractions. Nature is reduced and replicated while animal behaviour is altered when they are confined by boundaries. Nevertheless, as new innovations allow boundaries to be blurred, conditions for new and unexpected encounters with the animal are created. When man is unexpectedly left vulnerable to the animal and its gaze, a real encounter with the animal that cannot be simulated is experienced. Perhaps then empathy will be felt, and can provide the Zoo with an alternative mode of designing exhibits.