Claudia talks to Jeffrey Bussolini, a phenomenologist with a keen interest in feline experiences, about how art and aesthetics can provide a novel way of exploring and reconceptualising animals’ experiences.

Date recorded: 16 September 2020

Jeffrey Bussolini is Co-Director of the Center for Feline Studies and the Avenue B Multi-Studies Center, and associate professor at the City University of New York. He studied at Georgetown University, CUNY, the Sorbonne (Paris 1), and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Since 1995 he and colleagues have researched the phenomenological dimensions of feline and human interaction, focusing especially on the spatial, ethological, and social dimensions of feline-feline and feline-human relationships. Among the topics they have pursued are dualist versus monist conceptual foundations for phenomenological accounts, the surprising practice of cats eating chile peppers, and cats as artists and artmakers. In 2016 he and others curated the first exhibition of cat produced artworks at New York City gallery Adjacent to Life. Connect with Jeffrey via Twitter (@jefribussolini) or email (bussolini@gmail.com).

Claudia (Towne) Hirtenfelder is the founder and host of The Animal Turn. She is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at Queen’s University and is currently undertaking her own research project looking at the historical relationships between animals (specifically cows) and cities. Contact Claudia via email (towne@live.co.za) or follow her on Twitter (@ClaudiaFTowne).

Feautured: The Phenomenology of Animal Life by Dominique Lestel, Jeffrey Bussolini, and Matthew Chrulew; Congo the Chimpanzee by the Mayor Gallery; The Different Modes of Existence by Étienne Souriau; The Philosophical Ethology of Roberto Marchesini by Jeffrey Bussolini; Over the Human: Post-humanism and the Concept of Animal Epiphany by Roberto Marchesini; Carolee Schneemann’s Lifelong Love Affair with Her Cats by Tess Thackara;

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

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