Reversed Zoo
OpenArt 2026, Örebro, Sweden
Large-scale interactive installation and public sculpture
Feed the humans!
At Reversed Zoo, humans are kept in cages while the animals roam free.
Built in the middle of the city, the work turns the familiar logic of the zoo upside down. The human enclosures contain recognisable objects from everyday life: furniture, a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner and other human comforts.
Visitors must choose: enter the cages as humans, or transform themselves into animals and move freely through the zoo.
The reversal is playful, absurd and immediately understandable. Underneath it lies a more serious question:
Why do humans place themselves above nature?
A living sculpture
Reversed Zoo remained at Järntorget throughout OpenArt’s three-month exhibition.
OpenArt’s educational workshop moved directly into the artwork. Visitors could make masks, ears, wings, fur and other elements before entering the zoo as animals. Performances, workshops and public activities continued to change what happened inside and around the structure.
The work became both a sculpture and a social space—inhabited and transformed by the institution, invited artists and the people who entered it.
The sculpture provided the structure. People kept it alive.
Signs, instructions and graphic materials extended Reversed Zoo beyond the physical structure, giving the temporary world its own visual language.
Project information
Reversed Zoo
OpenArt 2026
Järntorget, Örebro, Sweden
Materials: Euro pallets, shipping containers, temporary building fences, costumes and scenography
By JAM PUBLIC. Developed in collaboration with OpenArt and its educational department.
