Night Zoo

Video, 6:30 (looped)

Night Zoo is created from streaming web-cam footage being broadcast from the Smithsonian National Zoo at night. The downloaded clips of different animals' enclosures have then been put together in a grid format to allow viewers to experience the zoo from the perspective of a voyeur, watching the animals even as they sleep. Some of the enclosures included in the grid remain motionless without the presence of any animals, while others show only fuzzy images of a sleeping ferret or the nocturnal kiwi roaming its pen. What this video highlights is the power we possess as humans to constantly watch over creatures that are unaware they are being watched. The act of watching these animals as they sleep puts the viewer in the difficult position of dealing with the enjoyment spying on them creates and may even leave one wondering who is watching us when we sleep?