**DISCLAIMER: The Humans At The Zoo Project is not affiliated with the Los Angeles Zoo, it is a fictitious project started by Matthew Manos. Some images were fabricated to serve a point for a student project about parody.**

The premise for this project consisted of writing an extensive proposal to the Los Angles County proposing an idea for an outdoor “media art” installation. I decided I wanted mine to reflect my thoughts on life in the city. I was immediately reminded of a Desmond Morris novel I had read which described the city as a "concrete jungle." In a natural setting, animals do not masturbate, kill their young, develop stomach ulcers, etc., but in an unnatural setting, such as a zoo, they do. My argument is that the same goes for humans. I (and Desmond Morris) argue that years ago, before the existence of cities, and when the world was simplified down to a series of villages, humans did not do these unnatural things that animals experience in the zoo, but with the coming of cities (and an unnatural life for human beings) also came stomach ulcers, the desire to steal from one another, anger and the desire to kill, masturbation, etc..
 
My proposal first asked that 2000 animals be replaced by humans in the zoo. I created an extensive advertisement and marketing campaign which included a shirt, a pamphlet, instructions for visitors, the soundtrack to be played at the park, a logo, and a website. All of these items were created to fit the branding of the Los Angeles Zoo in the hope that it would appear to be associated with it.
 
The visitors at the park were either instructed to be the exhibit, or to watch the exhibit. If the visitors were the exhibit, they would walk into the cages, and notice that other people (planted actors) were having fun running around and jumping and climbing up trees. While all this is happening, the soundtrack for the exhibit would be playing, audio I had recorded on Wilshire Blvd.
 
This project actually resulted in a lot of controversy (which is why the beginning of the project's description has a disclaimer now). I was contacted by the directors of the Los Angeles Zoo and was notified that they had been receiving many calls from park frequenters as well as out-of-towners expressing their interest in my show. Let's just say the site had to be removed.

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lazoo.org (left), humansatthezoo.com (right)