Urban Fauna Lab Valley of Beggars

A fascinating investigation on the social and cultural status of animals and plants in history. Urban Fauna Lab is a collective, formed in 2011 in Moscow by the artists Alexey Buldakov and Anastasia Potemkina. The group is a multidisciplinary platform conceived to explore parasitic and symbiotic relationships in the urban environment and their associated adaptations. This book focuses on the role of urban animals and plants in human culture and on the economic, architectural, and political implications of the cohabitation of humans and animals in the city. Five original contributions from invited authors are accompanied by a text written by the artists and a conversation between the collective and the curator Katerina Chuchalina.