Zoo orchestrates exoticism

[imomus]

While we were at Berlin Zoo on Friday, a baby giraffe was being born. We didn't get to see Inga, but did catch a disappointing glimpse of the last big zoo baby star, Knut the polar bear. Knut is rather disappointing, a dirty yellow colour and already quite big. To see him you have to join crowds held back by crash barriers. Meanwhile, a much cuter baby donkey and baby camel were being ignored, presumably because they hadn't been featured in the media.



My main interest at Berlin Zoo, though, is the graphic design. It hits all sorts of buttons for me:

* Kitschy primitive paintings and diagrams of animals counterbalanced by

* Didactic, restrained, very German 20th century sans serif faces, including some nice Helvetica.

* But also a total eccentric eclecticism -- as at the Natural History Museum in New York, there's no attempt to harmonize the clashing styles of different sections.

* Odd materials -- the history of elephants told with tiles, for instance.

Put this together with the weird national references in the pavilion architecture -- zebras get a mosque-like structure, bulls a teutonic barn, the goats a tiny alp with a tarred wooden hut perched on a crag -- and you get a confection of continuous exoticism, an eccentric spectacle of eccentricity, and strangeness strangely narrated.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Enough about Helvetica!

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

The illustrations remind me so much of the Los Angeles Zoo! Although the L.A. Zoo is really boring, and has way too many hills. I heard that one time an employee saw an elderly couple going up the hill to see some animals, and offered them a ride on his little car. He came back down, and he ended up having to give every one of the obese people a ride up. He spent about an hour doing it. Ugh, America sometimes!

[microworlds.livejournal.com]

*Disclaimer: yes, some obese people are really nice people, but some are just outright lazy.

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

1. did you get to see any lemurs?
2. did you see any incidents of Akzidenz Grotesk?
3. you were in my dream last night.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

There's a friendly baby camel (http://lord-whimsy.livejournal.com/209819.html) at the private zoo around the corner from us. My favorite is the chubby tapir--he'll let you pet his fat little bum all day.

Just did illustrations for the AMNH exhibit on mythical creatures. Enjoy doing work for that museum--one of our favorite clients.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

The back studios where they fabricate the dioramas are mind-blowing--old display cases, taxidermy, molds, etc. It's fascinating to see the process.

One of my favorite museums of this sort is The Wagner Free Institute (http://www.wagnerfreeinstitute.org/) in Philly, near Temple University. The massive glass arcade of 19C collection of taxidermy is arrayed in long banks of display cases. Very arresting when taken in its entirety.

But for mid-century display aesthetic, the AMNH's doirama of a forest floor (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Forest_Floor_Diorama/diorama.html?50) cannot be beaten--giant worms, lots of aqua paint and futura bold.

However, the early 20c style is best seen in the Hall of ocean Life, where the wax and wire tableau of the ancient Ordovician (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/ocean/03_oceanlife/g2_ordovician.php), Permian (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/ocean/03_oceanlife/g3_permian.php), and Cretaceous (http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/ocean/03_oceanlife/g4_cretaceous.php) seas still trumps and fiberglass mold models--the colors have a translucent depth to them, like living flesh. Check the ammonites and cuttlefish to see what I mean.

[globe-glauber.livejournal.com]

penguins pool - london zoo - regent's park

architect: jacques tati...
oh, sorry: berthold lubetkin (1934)

my friend T

[(Anonymous)]

hi Nick,
Thomas Walter aka T will play tomorrow in Berlin at 21h30. see www.hotelbar-berlin.de
T is a 25 years student in architecture. He released records for french labels Vergo and Herzfeld, played once with Section Amour, famous Clapping Active Suspension collective. He works this month in architecture cabinet in Berlin. He writes songs like an architect draw buildings. His voice is beautiful. Hope you can see and meet him.
bye
Renaud (from Strasbourg)

[(Anonymous)]

Unpolished, inconsistent, kindergartenesque and adorned with anatomically bonkers critters, I love their signage; the aged, shogun baboon on the right in the third picture and the toothy, punky zebra are wonderful.
I will give the Zoo a visit when I'm over later this week.
Thomas.