Animal/Séance
Rebecca Anweiler – 2017
“Animal/Séance is an installation composed of an experiment, a bank of photo images and a video around themes challenging anthropocentrism and engaging my belief in the consciousness of all beings.”
Artist Statement
Animal/Séance is an installation composed of an experiment, a bank of photo images and a video around themes challenging anthropocentrism and engaging my belief in the consciousness of all beings. The experiment component, developed from the collected submissions from community members about animal companions who have recently passed, will be used to teach and test a simple telepathic communication technique. Gallery visitors will be able to participate by sitting at a carrel and choosing an animal from a selection on a computer screen, and then answering 3-5 questions about it after a brief and guided explanation about how to communicate telepathically. The idea of this ‘experiment’ is not to prove or disprove the existence of telepathy, but to encourage a more open and engaged approach to the very question of its existence.
About the Artist
Rebecca Anweiler—
Rebecca Anweiler is a Kingston-based visual artist who completed her MFA at Concordia University in Montreal in 2000, and is an honours graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, receiving numerous awards for her work. She has taught Drawing and Painting at Queen’s University for the past 14 years, as well as at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta and Concordia University, Montreal. A recipient of both Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council grants, Anweiler’s artwork has been exhibited extensively in Toronto and Montreal, and she has paintings in several public collections including the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, the City of Toronto, and the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery. Practicing animal telepathic communication has been a passion of hers for over 10 years, and has begun to engage her art practice.