Exhibit B: Origin of the Species
Natural History Museum exhibit, London, early 20th century
Trophies brought to the UK from the British East Africa Protectorate (now Kenya)
Mixed media: maps, various trophies (antelope heads, Ogiek male and female, cultural artefacts), vitrines, anthropological paraphernalia, spectator.
Exhibit B: Origin of the Species interview
Interview with the performers of Exhibit B's Origin of the Species installation.
About Exhibit B
An exploration of racism and Europe’s colonial history are at the heart of Exhibit B, one of the most controversial and thought-provoking works at 2014’s Edinburgh International Festival.
Read more
South African Brett Bailey has produced a hybrid of performance and exhibition through 13 fixed installations at the neo-classical interior of the city's Playfair Library Hall.
Visitors are confronted by a ‘human zoo’ and ethnographic displays popularised during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in each tableau the audience is confronted by a black performer who casts an unsettling, silent gaze at the viewer.
A selection can be experienced here on BBC Arts, accompanied by interviews with some of the performers and their experience of taking part in this unsettling work.
