B-1010 for 2010 : this month, Guardians, a proposal by Zimmerfrei (in : the Bulletin, May issue)

This month, we present a proposal by the Italian collective Zimmerfrei (http://www.zimmerfrei.co.it).

It is a photograph entitled Guardians, 2010, linked to LKN Confidential, the project the group has developed with Brussels nous appartient/Brussel behoort on toe for the current edition of KunstenfestivaldesArts. The image has an immediate, direct appeal. I’ll leave it to readers to imagine what the exact relationship between the dogs is. Obviously, they seem to have a lot in common and many things to share…if only they looked at each other. Brussels’ identity is traditionally associated with a canine metaphor. Natives and longtime inhabitants of the city sometimes refer to themselves as zinneke, which in Brussels dialect means ‘mongrel’, a trope which captures perfectly their mixed heritage. The dogs shown in Zimmerfrei’s photograph have obviously been bred to embody the physical characteristics prized in boxers. Their appearance is the result of an artificial, manipulated process. We know that, down the generations, all breeds derive from a generic, zinneke essence. This brings us to the often overlooked fact that all divides and separations (cultural, social, ideological, economic, etc) within human society also result from artificial processes, and that they are to a great extent dangerously superficial constructions grounded in ignorance, fear and misconceptions. Sadly, some people tend to forget this basic truth.