Performing Taxidermy or the De- and Reconstruction of Animal Faces in Service of Animal Futures

By deconstructing the taxidermic object, the speculative taxidermist makes visible the violent, anthropocentric practices that are enshrined by trophies and museum objects. This article identifies a divergent, if similarly decentering, school of taxidermy art, which it labels performative taxidermy. Where speculative taxidermy deconstructs, performative taxidermy co-opts, leveraging the taxidermic object’s ability to pass as real to make spectators engage with beings and realities that they have historically, systematically ignored. In its redefinition, explication, and evaluation of performativity, the article uses models from Deleuze and Guattari’s “Year Zero: Faciality” and engages with the documentary Nénette and taxidermic hybrids of Kate Clark.