Amsterdam opens Art Zoo museum featuring caged visitors

A new museum in Amsterdam, titled Art Zoo, features a provocative concept where human visitors are placed inside black metal cages while hundreds of taxidermied animals appear to roam freely around them.

Created by Dutch artists Jaap Sinke and Ferry van Tongeren, the exhibition is housed in a 17th-century canal building. The duo draws inspiration from the “wunderkammers,” or curiosity cabinets, popular among wealthy Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike traditional natural history museums that aim to mimic nature, the creators focus on theatrical drama and storytelling, giving the animals specific characters and attitudes.

The collection includes a 3.6-meter crocodile, a Japanese giant spider crab, and various bones and grotesque fish. The artists stated that none of the animals were taken from the wild; instead, they were sourced from European zoos where they died of natural causes. The creators previously gained international recognition in 2015 when artist Damien Hirst purchased their entire exhibition in London.