Since the inception of the Bronx zoo, countless mammals and reptiles have escaped and infiltrated the surrounding metropolis, some yielding great fame in the process.  Not surprisingly, birds are the most common fugitives, but are joined by several varieties of monkeys, beavers, otters, a pygmy hippopotamus, a Himalayan black bear, a snow leopard, a platypus and most recently an Egyptian Cobra. Re-wilded by their unexpected freedom, these animals have fostered panic and anxiety in adjacent neighborhoods, simultaneously reminding us of the tenuous boundaries of their containment and control.

 

Through the exploration of new taxonomies of organization and arrangements of animals, this souvenir challenges the existing themes of confinement and classification that remain central to the model of the zoo. This new codification is based on other observed similarities, such as color, scale, IQ etc, and explores the aesthetic and spatial possibilities through repetition, contrast and proximity.