Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
This collection of stuffed animals having sex is on display for children aged over 12 to learn about mating rituals in the animal kingdom.
According to local media, the artist, who works as a taxidermist, spent 10 years preparing the ‘Two of Every Kind’ exhibition, referring to Noah’s Ark.
The conceptual art exhibition, on show in the city of Novosibirsk in the southern Russian region of Novosibirsk Oblast, is the 10-year labour of love of Dr. Pavel Glazkov.
Dr Glazkov said he first had the idea a long time ago while studying biology in Saint Petersburg.
He told Central European News (CEN): “Every time a professor would start telling us about the mating rituals of any type of animals or insects, students would automatically get excited and pay more attention.”
Dr Glazkov said it is very interesting to study animals’ mating patterns and stresses that it is the most interesting and “emotionally colourful” part of wildlife.
For the last 15 years, Dr Glazkov has been working as taxidermist and this experience was another incentive for him to move on with his project.
He told CEN that the entire exhibition covers the full range of animals’ reproductive behaviour: “I tell a story of how animals carry out courtship, how they mate, as every type of animal has a load of specific aspects in that regard.
“I tell a story about animal’s pregnancies and how some animals like sows can actually postpone it for several months.”
He added: “The most interesting part is motherhood and fatherhood, and taking care of the animals’ offspring.”
The expert claims that all the 250 pieces in the exhibition are from his private collection.
Dr Glazkov also has over 700 other items, one of which is a clay pot from the 2nd century BC, in his collection and stresses that many of them symbolise fertility as well.
The third part of the exhibition covers Glazkov’s videos, where he educates people about animals.
In order to prepare the exhibition, Glazkov has spent over 100 hours watching related videos.
He told CEN that many biology teachers supported his exhibition despite criticism from Russian media, and that he is motivated to develop his work in this field.
Netizen ‘Olga’ said: “I think there are too many hypocrites out there. I think it is a very cool exhibition, these animals look cute.”
‘YaYa’ added: “To be honest, this is the most innocent way to learn about mating for kids. Do parents really think that children do not know how to Google on their smartphones?”
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