Amsterdam’s Art Zoo Turns Visitors Into the Caged Spectacle

A 12-foot crocodile hangs overhead at Amsterdam’s new Art Zoo, its open mouth facing visitors as they enter. The museum brings together hundreds of preserved creatures, arranged with bones, jars of illuminated tulips and a collection of grotesque-looking fish.

Artists from the Netherlands, Jaap Sinke and Ferry van Tongeren created the museum, drawing on the curiosity cabinets, or “wunderkammers,” assembled by wealthy Europeans centuries ago. Their displays give animals theatrical poses rather than placing them in scenes meant to resemble wildlife. A giant spider crab spreads its six-foot legs over a doorway beside mastodon leg bones, while a cheetah slouches beneath a cassowary’s gaze.

The artists have also reversed the usual zoo arrangement: visitors are enclosed in dark metal cages as the animals appear to roam freely through the rooms. Van Tongeren said the setup makes the entire building part of the artwork. One visitor, Tomas Vasko, described the experience as a little creepy.

Sinke said the animals came from zoos after dying of natural causes. The artists mainly sourced specimens in Europe so they could trace their histories, though Sinke said the paperwork can be difficult. Their work drew wider attention in 2015, when artist Damien Hirst bought their entire exhibition at a London art show.

The museum also includes altered ray carcasses known as Jenny Hanivers, which sailors in the 16th century presented as sea monsters. Darwin appears in a wall display of busts turned sideways, a deliberate reference to the naturalist in a former home of the Biblical Museum.