I, Animal at Melbourne Zoo: Don't bring the kids!

Don’t bring the children to this adults-only experience at Melbourne Zoo. Seriously, don’t. I, Animal is an irresistible piece of interactive performance art, utilising patrons and zoo creatures as cast, and the environs of Melbourne Zoo as stage and set. 

Following the success of I Am Not An Animal (Ruby Award for Innovation 2012), Adelaide company, ‘The Border Project’, were commissioned by Zoos Victoria to create what is a unique interactive experience.

Here’s how it works. On arrival patrons are armed with a personal device, the ‘Zoe’ designed by Arts Processors, the team behind the ‘O’ device at the MONA Gallery in Hobart. After a series of introductory questions outside the main entrance, you are divided into four groups are led on a separate themed experiences.

I was allocated to the group exploring notions of life, death, survival and extinction. Its confrontation is surprising, warm and sensitive, and I was told later that it is the most affecting of the groups, particularly for those who’ve recently experienced the death of a loved one. Even so, there are laughs. 
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