by Bianca Kennedy & The Swan Collective

I am animals. I eat animals. A duality explored in Bianca Kennedy & The Swan Collective’s virtual reality experience in which insects will be the future's main food supply. In a few decades, natural disasters and scarcity of resources will force our society to eat insects. High-quality proteins and unsaturated fatty acids are ideal nourishment. Special molecular compounds within deliver new antibiotics. Using virtual reality glasses, the observer slips into the minds of the animals and experiences the promise of salvation from the other side: gaping human mouths and overcrowded bug farms. In turn, the insects advocate for the human consumption of protein-rich whales. Why should an individual whale be more valuable than a billion friendly beetles? The artists combine sensitive portrayals of insects with bittersweet visions of the future.

In their joint work Bianca Kennedy (*1989) & The Swan Collective (founded in 2007) deal with the future of evoulution and its impact on plants, animals and humans. They studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, HFG Karlsruhe and Athens School of Fine Art and both received Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. Their works garnered numerous scholarships and awards like the prestigious LOOP Discover Award in Barcelona. ANIMALIA SUM is their 4th project together.