Zoological Institute II

At the end of the 19th century, when the natural history museum of Brussels constructed a south wing in order to exhibit their giant collection of dinosaurs, they also planned a symmetrical north wing to be built in the years to come. But those years didn’t come. Asked to collaborate with the museum, we decided to take the responsibility to construct and curate the missing north wing. For two months in spring, the missing symmetry was obtained. We called our wing the ZOOLOGICAL INSTITUTE FOR RECENTLY EXTINCT SPECIES.

Our collection of the north wing was a collection based on doubt, a collection of 34 images that refer to 34 exact moments in the history of Homo sapiens sapiens. The north wing showed this history (which we call our natural history) as a history of not knowing, a history of choices that were made without knowing the consequences.

The north wing was open daily form 10h to 17h. Every evening at sundown, a moment of assembly was organized when 90 visitors were guided through the collection.