Animal Touch: Book Launch & Discussion

You are cordially invited to the online launch of Animal Touch, a book dedicated to all animals, whether privileged, abused, overlooked, close by or far away, real or imaginary. The book is an anthology of texts from 14 Czech and international contributors, edited by Hana Janečková and Eva Koťátková and published by Artmap.

During the event, you can look forward to author readings from a number of the contributors: Esther Leslie & Lucia Pietroiusti (UK), Marie Lukáčová & Tomáš Uhnák (CZ). The event will be hosted by the editors of the book, Hana Janečková and Eva Koťátková, who will also introduce Tomáš Hrůza, the editor for the publishing house Artmap. The event will take place in both English and Czech. After the author readings, there will be space for a public Q&A. The link to watch the discussion and join in via chat is here.

About Animal Touch:
Our view of the more-than-human world is very often distorted by an anthropocentric perspective that sees nature as a freely accessible subject of value extraction. The bars of a cage and the glass of an aquarium allow us a safe and comfortable view of the lives of animals, constrained by limited space and the rules of surveillance.

Animal Touch explores some of the most important critiques of human-animal relations – centring questions of labour – with an emphasis on an equitable distribution of resources, symbiotic relations and the sentience of the more-than-human world. With fourteen newly commissioned contributions, this interdisciplinary publication shows the ways in which activist, literary, scientific, feminist, sociological and artistic strands of work meet, sharing common concerns and challenges. New possibilities of relating to the more-than-human world are explored through environmental issues and animal rights – but also through consumption, the body, language and desire. Through these encounters, this book aims to advance our thinking and imagination about the ways we can establish more ecological and equitable relations with nature in its broadest sense.

The book is available in Czech and English editions. It can be purchased through Artmap: bit.ly/buy-animaltouch.

Visuals: Daniela & Linda Dostálkovy

The book published with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague City Hall and the State Fund of Culture.