The Process: Is animal breeding a form of sculpture? | Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen

Somerset House Podcast

Artists Revival Cohen & Tuur Van Balen explore how humans have transformed the animals that we live with.
The way in which we think about animals is riven with contradictions. We dote on our pets yet consume vast amounts of animals as meat. The UK consistently donates more money to animal welfare charities than any other cause and yet have created pet breeds with horrifying health defects. Revival Cohen & Tuur Van Balen are an artist duo who are interested in these ambiguities, in particular the moment when animal bodies are transformed into objects of human desire. They’ve made work with thoroughbred race horses, bred their own batch of genetically modified goldfish and in 2023 they were the recipients of the UAL’s Creative Computing Institute x Somerset House Experimental Technology Fellowship 2023, offering a unique development and commission opportunity for an artist looking to incorporate new technology within their work. This resulted in a new film, May the Fox Take You for CHANNEL, our online space for art, process and ideas.
In this episode of The Process we join them in the research process for their next work, which continues to explore a question central to their practice: can animal breeding be considered a form of sculpture? We talk to historian Michael Worboys about how the Victorians created the modern dog breed and writer and curator Filipa Ramos discusses how art has informed the way we think about the animal body.
Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen were in residence at Somerset House Studios in 2023. May The Fox Take You was commissioned by Somerset House in collaboration with UAL Creative Computing Institute.
Producer - Alannah Chance
Exec Producer - Eleanor Ritter-Scott
Series presenter - Laurent John