Kati Roover in conversation with Dr. Karsten Brensing: Empathy and Feelings in Animals
as part of the exhibition A I S T I T / coming to our senses
Kapitel 3: Resonant bodies

2 June 2021, 7 pm
Live-Stream
In English

When the songs of humpback whales were recorded for the first time in 1970, it initiated a special interest in the novel realisation that consciousness exists beyond humans. Kati Roover’s video work Salt of My Eyes (2020/2021), which is currently being shown at KINDL as part of the exhibition A I S T I T / coming to our senses, is an attempt to get closer to the soul- and life-world of these mysterious creatures, which are being increasingly damaged and destroyed by human intervention. How animals think and feel is also the focus of marine biologist, television journalist and former research diver Dr. Karsten Brensing’s work, as well as the title of one of his children's books (first published by Loewe Verlag, 2019). For him, feeling compassion is the crowning glory of all the senses – and by no means reserved for humans alone.
The talk will be live-streamed on YouTube. Kati Roover and Dr. Karsten Brensing will both hold a presentation, after which they will discuss the topics presented. Viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions via the chat function.

Dr. Karsten Brensing (* 1967 in Erfurt) is a marine biologist, behavioural scientist and author. He campaigns for a better understanding of animals as a scientific expert and the author of popular science books. Brensing studied biology in Göttingen and specialised in marine biology at the University of Kiel. For his doctoral thesis in behavioural biology at the FU Berlin he researched the interactions between humans and dolphins in Florida and Israel, including in dolphin therapy. Brensing is currently working on a new book about the animal past of humans. 

Kati Roover (* 1982 in Estonia, lives in Helsinki) works across multiple disciplines and approaches the changes in her environment with poetic imagination. Roover combines her studies with different perspectives — for example, the interaction between humans and non-human beings, the natural sciences, ecological and decolonial thinking, mindful listening, mythical storytelling, new feminist materialism, and essayistic documentary films. She works with moving images, sound, photography, text, and installations.