ALEX HANIMANN

Trapped

Trapped is a massive illustrated book comprised of over 500 snapshots of domestic and exotic animals, mostly taken at night by automatically triggered “camera traps.” Originally taken for scientific purposes in various habitats and climatic zones, Swiss artist and professor, Alex Hanimann (b. 1955), gathers and presents these surreal compositions to raise questions about the authorship and use of digital pictures. By embedding them in the context of art, each highly idiosyncratic shot may be reassessed according to formal artistic criteria such as lighting, cropping and texture, apart from its original purpose of recording animal behavior at night. Despite Hanimann’s contemplative indexing, however, the viewer must grapple with the voyeuristic element of the process. Peering at animals at night in their natural habitats creates a feeling of almost paparazzi intrusion—a stark moment loaded with issues regarding human intervention in nature. With 350 pages overflowing with images, Trapped is engaging right to the end.

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