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Fifty human rabbits invade downtown Melbourne. They walk the streets and
laneways of the city scattered or in a herd, wearing big rabbit cardboard-heads on
their shoulders. They walk fast, and suddenly stop from time to time, often looking
sideways.
In 1859, a colonist released in Australia twelve pairs of wild European rabbits that
he had brought from England to hunt. The abundance of food, the lack of natural
enemies and the rate at which rabbits breed, caused an invasion of 10 billion
rabbits half a century later. The intruders ate the forage of the native animals and
occupied their burrows. Many species were extinguished, and entire forests
disappeared.
In order to fight against the pest, foxes were imported, a rabbit-proof fence was
built across the country, and a bacteriological war was declared in the 1950s which
finally proved effective: more than half of the European rabbit population had been
exterminated. Gradually, the local fauna and flora were restored.
This thought-provoking street action is specifically designed to be held in Australia.
There, rabbits are viewed negatively as invasive animals that destroy the local
ecosystem, but universally rabbits are seen as cute and cuddly animals, and are
considered pets in many countries. These contradictory associations, negative and
positive, urge us to openly consider, not without a touch of humour, the concepts of
immigration, invasion, group and identity.
An action part of the first retrospective exhibition of mmmm... RMIT Gallery,
Melbourne, Australia. 2017. With the support of the Embassy of Spain in Australia.
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