At Home Activity –
Octopus Academy
m0wson&MOwson (Lynn mowson and Bruce Mowson) collaborate on sculpture and sound/light projects focusing on human/non-human animal interactions. Their artwork feeler asks us to think about intensive farming of Octopuses and what that says about human relationships with other animals.
Join the Octopus Academy by reading, listening and watching a list of resources that the artists have put together to begin your own investigation into these amazing creatures.
Suitable for a range of ages, notes provided on how to find resources online.
Step 1: Hear from the Artists
Step 2: Do your own Research
Octopuses are very intelligent life forms. They have nine brains and three hearts! Their lifespan is short because the males can live for only a few months after mating, and the females die shortly after their eggs hatch. A lot of scientific research into octopuses is done because humans want to discover the most productive way to farm them.
Most recently the UK government reformed its animal welfare laws to acknowledge cephalopods (such as octopuses, squids and cuttlefish) as ‘sentient beings’. This means they are capable of experiencing a range of feelings or emotions, from negative ones like pain and suffering to positive ones like pleasure, excitement and joy. Hopefully this is the first step to reform factory farming conditions around the world!
Experimenta Life Forms artists m0wson&MOwson have compiled an informative list of recommend books, videos, podcasts and research to begin your own investigation into these amazing creatures.
DOWNLOAD PDF
Click here to find out more about this artwork, feeler, presented as part of Experimenta Life Forms.
About the Artists:
m0wson&MOwson
m0wson&MOwson (lynn mowson and Bruce Mowson) collaborate on sculpture and sound/light projects focusing on human/non-human animal interactions.
m0wson&MOwsonWurundjeri Country
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
m0wson&MOwson (lynn mowson and Bruce Mowson) collaborate on sculpture and sound/light projects focusing on human/non-human animal interactions.
lynn mowson is a sculptor whose practice is driven by the entangled relationships between human and non-human animals, in particular those animals we consume. Her sculptural research has been included in exhibitions nationally and internationally, and has been featured in publications including Animaladies, Bloomsbury Press, 2018, The Animal Studies Journal, 2018, Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, 2018 and The Art of the Animal, 2015.
Bruce Mowson works with sound and listening, with adventures into light, installation/sculpture, text and participatory art. He aims to make art that is broadly accessible and has in recent years been involved with the community sector. He is a founder of Liquid Architecture, holds a PhD in art, has taught art and design and has had the privilege of sharing work around Australia and occasionally overseas.