Exposition

The zoo: A mise-en-scène (2025)

Jocelyn Michel Janon

About this exposition

The zoo is not a neutral site of animal display but a meticulously curated mise en scène where scenography dictates perception. This exposition reframes the zoological garden as a dispositif of control, foregrounding fabricated rock formations, artificial lighting, and concealed barriers as theatrical devices. Through square format photographic series that exclude animals, the work exposes the zoo’s fragmented geographies as staged spectacles designed for human imagination rather than ecological integrity. The project interrogates authorship, agency, and representation, inviting viewers to reconsider the zoo as a cultural theatre of estrangement and illusion.
typeresearch exposition
keywordsmise-en-scène, Dispositif, natureculture, scenography, Colonial imaginaries, fragmentation, zoo
date15/12/2025
published15/12/2025
last modified15/12/2025
statuspublished
affiliationMedia Design School
copyrightJocelyn Janon
licenseCC BY-NC-ND
languageEnglish
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/4065423/4065424
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/rc.4065423
published inResearch Catalogue

References

  • Berger, John, About Looking (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980)
  • Estebanez, Jean, “Le Zoo Comme Dispositif Spatial: Mise En scène Du Monde Et De La Juste Distance Entre l’humain Et l’animal”, L’Espace géographique, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Belin‑Humensis, 2010), pp. 172–179
  • Estebanez, Jean, “Le Zoo Comme Dispositif Spatial: Pour Une géographie Culturelle De l’animalité”, Carnets De géographes, No. 2 (OpenEdition Journals, 2011)
  • Hagenbeck, Carl, Beasts and Men: Being Carl Hagenbeck’s Experiences for Half a Century Among Wild Animals (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1909)
  • Haraway, Donna, When Species Meet (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2008)
  • Tschumi, Bernard, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge: MA: MIT Press, 1996)
  • Tschumi, Bernard, and Veronique Descharrieres, “Paris Zoological Park” <https://www.archdaily.com/550663/paris-zoological-park-atelier-jacqueline-osty-and-associes> [accessed 10 January 2025]

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