ANIMAL UTOPIA

In our society perspectives on non-human animals are mostly shaped by objectification and oppression. We see them as food on our plates, as numbers in agribusiness, through bars in zoos or microscopes in labs.

The works of Germany-based artist Hartmut Kiewert juxtapose this view with an entirely different one. A new perspective that recognizes animals as individuals, displaying forms of coexistence on equal terms and without oppression and violence.
His paintings, which are going to be published in book form, relativize the solely anthropocentric perspective and enable viewers to encounter these sentient social beings in new empathetic ways. Thereby these utopias can become reality.

Explanatory notes by philosopher and author Hilal Sezgin and art historian Jessica Ullrich embed his works in both art historical and current ethical discourses and will be included in German and English.

For a first impression use this link

Compared to most of the numerous non-fiction publications regarding animal rights, this book is meant to address the topic in a more visual, approachable as well as a more positive way. Instead of being immediately deterred by brutal slaughterhouse scenes, people who are interested are introduced to current moral questions with a gentler and more optimistic outlook, the keynote of which is not "Look at how horrible all this is!“ but rather "Look, this could be a peaceful alternative“.
Correspondingly the target audience for this project consists of people who are generally interested in dealing with moral questions of consumption and human-animal relationships and prefer being addressed in a rather direct way. And of course people who are interested in contemporary political figurative painting in general.
Ideally this will lead to a more compassionate view of non-human animals so that their exploitation and killing will be buried in the ash heap of history.

By supporting this project you contribute to spread these (at the moment still utopian) depictions of a peaceful relationship between humans and non-human animals and to establish a new perspective on animals in the long run. This change of perspective is necessary to overcome current conditions of oppression and exploitation.
Incidentally you enable people who don't have the means to visit exhibitions to still participate in aesthetically pleasing contemporary political art.

The money will be used to pay for the actual making of this high-quality book which will be printed in Europe on exclusively recycled paper in vegan colors free of mineral oil.
Reaching our goal would also allow us to pay for other parts of the production process which at the moment are being done unpaid, such as various editing and organizational tasks.