For Spécimens 24, Olga Cafiero explores the collections of the Naturéum, the Cantonal Museum of Natural Sciences in Lausanne, and questions the notion of the museum as a space where knowledge is juxtaposed and exchanged. Inspired by scientific methods, she questions the relationship between the inert and the living. 

With (In)animalis, she highlights the uniqueness of each specimen using a variety of techniques: ultraviolet light to imitate the vision of pollinators, outdated films to reveal the passage of time, and 3D scans and prints to alter the way fossils are perceived. She revisits Müller’s herbarium of brambles, transforms Auguste Forel’s ants into anonymous portraits and animates hundreds of collected objects against a grey background in reference to scientific indexes. 

Inspired by Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, she questions the way museums classify, preserve and freeze living things, revealing their role in the construction of knowledge that is constantly being re-read.