A Curious Trail of Animal Tales brings together an assortment of animal stories inspired by the collection of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney: from Classical pots depicting scenes of animal life and an Egyptian sarcophagus decorated with the animal forms of diverse deities, to taxidermy specimens and a live bird who visits the cafe. The stories explore the strange and fascinating lives of animals, from avian musicians learning to inhabit new soundscapes and mobsters hosting turtle races, to snails hitching a ride on migrating birds to establish themselves on far flung islands. A diverse and talented group of storytellers from across the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney, including researchers in environmental humanities, digital humanities, design, biology, anthropology, history, philosophy, literature, geography, musicology, and more have contributed to the collection (see the full list of contributors below). 

Rather than collecting the objects and stories in a single space to create a conventional exhibition, this project has created an interactive animal trail that weaves its way throughout the museum, leading visitors between selected objects and sharing stories with them along the way. If you cannot visit the museum, the stories that make up the trail can also be accessed from anywhere in the world via this website, in both audio and text forms. 

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The stories told here aim to draw us into a deeper sense of understanding and appreciation for some of the remarkable creatures that we share this planet with — how they perceive and make sense of the world around them, how they make music, make their nests and burrows, and ultimately how they go about making their lives. 

But these stories are about much more than biology. They are also, fundamentally, about how the lives of human communities, across times and cultures, have been tangled up with those of animals. They are about diverse ways of studying, understanding, valuing, using, respecting and relating to the animals around us. As such, these stories shed as much light on human life as they do on that of the (other) animals. They prompt us to understand in new ways what it means to be a human animal, and so to take up the difficult work of living in company with many other animals in a way that respects both what we share with them and the complex, contested and always consequential uniqueness of our own species. 

These are perennially important topics, but they are also ones that takes on new urgency on our damaged planet. At our present time animal species are disappearing rapidly and the industrialisation of animal cruelty is taking ever more intensive forms. Meanwhile, a growing number of humans are themselves being ‘animalised’ on the basis of their race, sexuality, or cultural practices, their humanity denied in an effort to justify violent forms of oppression and exploitation. 

In this context, a critical—but also curios and generous—examination of animal life is a vital prerequisite not only for living well, but for earthly survival. 

If you’d like to explore A Curious Trail of Animal Tales in the Chau Chak Wing Museum, this can be done in one of two ways.

PROJECT TEAM

Project Design

• Julia Kindt (School of Humanities and Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney)

• Thom van Dooren (School of Humanities and Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney)

• Zoë Sadokeirski (School of Design, University of Technology Sydney)

• Andrew Burrell (School of Design, University of Technology Sydney)

This project is supported by the Sydney Environment Institute and the School of Humanities at the University of Sydney. 

The project website was expertly designed by Vanessa Brewster and most of the audio recording and editing for this website was carried out by Peter Adams (School of Humanities).

Storytellers

Andrew Burrell, Dannielle Cellermajer, Dieter Hochuli, Julia Kindt, Blake Lawrence, Peter Minter, Myles Oakey, Jude Philip, Louise Pryke, Candace Richards, Dallas Rogers, Zoë Sadokierski, Hollis Taylor, Thom van Dooren, Sam Widin.