Art that smells like sausages, facilities that are giant bowls of food filled with balls and cars with fans and windows wide open. Who said dogs can’t enjoy art? This is an awesome experiment developed last summer in London by the British designer Dominic Wilcox. We’ll let you know how “Art for dogs” is like and what the secrets to enchant these hairy creatures’ art taste are.
Wilcox’s art smell like sausages and the paintings are below the ground where four-paw observers can enjoy them. There is a car window wide open (what a canine pleasure!) and a giant food bowl filled with balls. There are also happy dogs that frantically move their tails. This is the perfect welcome to the first contemporary art exposition created for dogs only.
The British artist and designer Dominic Wilcox is a genius of delirium. His inexhaustible imagination has created inventions like a work helmet with an incorporated crane to pour your cereal, footwear with GPS that takes you wherever you want if you clash them (the modern version of Dorothy’s shoes from The Wizard of Oz) and he even makes child inventions become a reality. How have we survived without a clamp to get Pringles potatoes out of their tube? He has also dreamt and created in London the first contemporary art exposition for dogs.
The hairy challenge was imagining pieces of contemporary art thought for canine use and enjoyment but without unsettling the New York Moma. “As people, we have so many art galleries to visit and I thought it was about time to create an exposition for dogs”, says Wilcox. The canine exhibition, commissioned by the insurance company More Than, is part of the #PlayMore campaign that reminds us how important it is to play with our hairy companions every day to keep their minds and bodies in shape. “Playing is very important to stimulate dogs’ minds and bodies, and the objective of this exposition is make a lot of dogs happy and that their tails shake with pure happiness”, adds Wilcox.
Who said dogs don’t know about art?
How can anyone say dogs are not interested in art? The thing is that usually art is not thought for dogs. Wilcox has set his mind to emend this and has created interactive facilities considering the likes of his audience.
Canine Cruise is a car with open windows and a fan that propels air bursts scented with ribeye odor. Dreams at dinner time is a giant bowl of food filled with balls where dogs can dive in, chase each other and nibble. Water Amaze is a piece of artificial grass with sprinklers that activate when dogs pass by. There also are sculptures that are odorous ham legs to make anyone’s mouth water. The more geeky canines can get crazy with the hunting of multimedia ducks in a video screen.
And to stimulate the more arty side of each dog there are chicken legs planted in a yard of contemporary painting, placed at a perfect high for them to enjoy. There are also paintings of dog snacks with the range of colors dog see: gray, green and red. These works of art are made by six guest artists.
Museums not only for humans
The canine enthusiasm accomplished by these pieces of art exhibited since last summer is the result of a meticulous work and not as simple as you might think. “Although creating a dog exposition has been very fun, it also has been a challenge working for a completely new and different audience”, Wilcox says.
And now a whisker challenge: ¿When will the first contemporary art exposition for cats be prepared? “Create a feline exhibition might be very interesting. In this case, some of the pieces should be placed high so cats could climb and jump to see them. The thing is, it would be a place that people won’t get access to. This is an animal thing” finishes Wilcox.
