Unlike animals, whose consciousness of their own existence differs from humans, humans experience life as a conscious function of death, painfully aware of the limitations of life and the emptiness lurking ahead. Becoming Animal explores the existential nature of human existence in a rich survey through Symbolism, Surrealism, Minimalism and contemporary art. This investigation builds from a literary and philosophical framework that addresses consciousness and the self. Through a series of apparently irreconcilable artistically and politically divergent movements, empty transcendence is confronted by the enduring concepts of eternity and utopia. Becoming Animal features artists such as Francisco de Goya, Alfred Kubin, Odilon Redon, Gardar Eide Einarsson and Werner Büttner and includes essays on emptiness and transcendence in modern and contemporary art. Exhibition: Museum of Religious Art, Lemvig, 12.5.-12.8.2018