Joan Fontcuberta - Fauna

Kominek 2024

Fontcuberta is a conceptual artist whose best-known works, such as Fauna and Sputnik, examine the veracity of photography. Fauna, also known as “Fauna of Dr. Ameisenhaufen” or “Secret Fauna ,” was a collaboration between Fontcuberta and photographer Pere Formiguera following the discovery of the long-lost archives of German zoologist Dr. Peter Ameisenhaufen, who was born in 1895 and disappeared mysteriously in 1955.

Ameisenhaufen had catalogued a number of unusual animals, for example, Cercopithecus icarocornu resembles a monkey with a horn on its head and wings, and Solenoglypha polipodida resembles a 12-footed snake. A review of the 1988 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art noted that the evidence presented for the existence of the animals included photographs in both their natural habitats and laboratory situations; detailed field notes, in both the original German and English translations; an occasional skeletal X-ray or dissection drawing; two or three tapes of the animals' cries; and, in one case, an actual stuffed specimen. In addition, a video showed interviews in which various people spoke about Armeisenhaufen's life.

Re-mastered edition of the masterpiece first published in 1988

23 × 17 cm - 136 pages

Hardcover - English