What on Earth

October 04, 2020 - November 01, 2020

Do animal speak? Do they think? If so what is the nature of their thoughts? These are the conundrums that humankind is faced with in our increasingly apocalyptic world. It is an issue that has driven Cruise to explore the nature of the human and other animal divide and it was the central question in her doctorate “Thinking with Animals”.

'In What on earth?' Cruise collaborates with her assistant and protege Katja Abbott.

Cats, rats and mutated creatures form Abbott’s visual lexicon in her exploration of the conflict between nature and technology.  Her animals enter into a playful relationship with Cruise’s subjects. In so doing both artists emphasize the need for imaginative empathy in order to engage in a meaningful sense with (other) animals. In his naked encounter with his little cat, the French philosopher Jacques Derrida tried to ’imagine the world from her point of view and in so doing he felt himself looking deep into the eyes of God: “I hear the cat or God ask itself, ask me: Is he going to call me, is he going to address me?” The cat did this without “breathing a word[R1] ”.