How alike are apes and humans?
Are we just slightly advanced apes? Differences between social cognition and culture in humans and monkeys has always fascinated us. An exhibition in Berlin delves into the artistic interpretations of primatology.
The human ape
Apes are beloved in the arts - especially when it comes to philosophizing over the human condition. Primates were turned into literary monuments by writers such as E.T.A. Hoffmann, Wilhelm Hauff and Franz Kafka. Koko, the talking gorilla lady, became famous in the 1970s. A documentary by Barbet Schroeder (1978) shows the animal's training - or brainwashing.
Beauty and the beast
The Berlin museum Haus der Kulturen der Welt is now reviewing primates in the arts. Here, a diplomat's wife takes chimpanzee Max as a lover. In the comedy "Max, Mon Amour" (1986), Japanese director Nagisa Oshima pokes fun at the social changes in the status of women. Billed as "the greatest ape romance since King Kong," the film satirizes extramarital affairs among the Parisian upper class.
The thinker?
Natural sciences and popular culture illustrate how our perception of monkeys has radically changed over time. The artist Klaus Weber made a critical study of the image of great apes. His photo collage "Beulen" (2008) shows a plastic primate in a thinker pose, surrounded by heads of famous people popping up around him like comic bubbles.
Reinterpreting reality
For his project "Flota Nfumu" (2009), Filip Van Dingenen was inspired by the Spanish albino gorilla Snowflake, who was the most famous resident of the Barcelona zoo from 1966 to 2003. His human-like facial expressions made him a pop culture star. In his large installation, Van Dingenen collected children's pictures to show the cult surrounding "Nfumu," as the gorilla was originally called.
Monkeys and power
The ape-faced god Hanuman is an important figure in Javanese culture. In street theater plays, he will typically behave like a lord and master who teaches societal norms to the audience. The at times surrealist film "The Masked Monkeys" (2014), by Anja Dornieden and Juan David Gonzales Monroy, questions the working conditions and power relationships between Javanese monkeys and their owners.
Human mask
The French artist Pierre Huyghe was inspired by a YouTube video for his short film. The clip "Fuku-chan monkey in wig, mask, works restaurant" features a monkey in a restaurant in Tokyo who wears a mask and a wig, which make him look like a small girl. Huyghe found that monkey to create his own 19-minute film, "Human Mask," where the animal poetically moves like a Japanese Noh performer.
Visions of a chimpanzee
The "Planet of the Apes" movies which started being released in 1968 created new fantasy worlds, and their imagery is now an integral part of pop culture, especially in the US. Coco Fusco's video "TED Ethology: Primate Visions of the Human Mind" (2015) offers a lecture by Dr. Zira, who was the feminist chimpanzee researcher in the cult movie series.
The ape in me
Erik Steinbrecher works with multi-layered images and puns. His installation "AFFE" (APE, 2015), made of various natural and inorganic materials, leaves room for interpretation. The exhibition "Ape Culture" at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin runs through July 6, 2015.