Stephen Wilks

Stephen Wilks has been working the last couple of years on two major projects, Animal Farm and Trojan Donkey, using sculptures, drawings, performances and videos. He got his inspiration from the book Animal Farm published in 1945 by the British writer George Orwell, which tells the story of farm animals rising in revolt against the dictatorial regime of the farmer, taking over power and eventually creating a new dictatorship. Wilks organized various processions for Animal Farm, including one in Leuven, Belgium, where people carried man-sized pigs made of cloth.

For Sonsbeek 2008 Wilks is working further on Trojan Donkey, a project with seven cloth donkeys, each of which is given a home in all parts of the world with people who trust one another. They conceal photographs of their experiences with the donkey in the animal’s stomach and these photographs are later exhibited. In Sonsbeek Park twelve ‘new born’ donkeys are being carried on the shoulders of twelve human figures made of wood. They are standing in the deer enclosure on a rotating platform and are themselves rotating as well. One of the donkeys is colored gold. He is the art donkey that after Sonsbeek will travel on to hospitable art institutions. Trojan Donkey is a gradually growing, many-sided project that transcends political and territorial boundaries. It points to the bankruptcy of political systems, but also to the readiness of individuals to support others and to bear a burden.

The donkeys were borne during the Procession by the Guild of the Municipality of Arnhem, comprising municipal officers and councilors.