[ background music ]
>> Want some more.
Hold it. Ok let's go, paint, come on, paint,
good boy, good boy, good boy!
>> Many zoos use painting artwork as a kind
of enrichment activity as a leisure activity
to keep the animals happy and occupied
and obviously we've come a long way in zoos where they used
to be concrete and metal cages, to having very many toys
and things to hang off and swing around and the kind
of painting activities is one way
that the animals have been kept more active mentally.
The difference species are taught to paint
in different ways, they're encouraged to paint in ways.
With the elephants it's really quite different how you might
imagine it.
Their handler is holding them by the ear and just kind
of using the ear like a joystick if you like, to steer the trunk
but it displays an incredible level of dexterity.
[ music ]
>> In the 1950s a popular television program called Zoo
Time emerged made by Granada television and presented
by Desmond Morris and this was a runaway success in terms
of popular television.
One of the most well received moments of the show was
when Congo would do some drawings on camera
and this gave a body of work which was then shown in 1958
at the Institute for Contemporary Art.
You could see the evolution of a particular sort of drawing style
if you like there was a change in the way
in which Congo was approaching drawing.
What we tried to do here is I don't know
if it's exactly the first show but what one of the first shows
to look at and bring various species together and to try
to take a broader view
over what's happening amongst a variety of species
and whether we can call it art or not.
>> It's certainly I think this painting
by Samantha is a lot more coherent
than the painting by the orang-utan.
As an artist myself I do instinctively want them you know
these animals to be sort of engaging in process I engage in.
I don't believe that's the case if I'm honest but I think
that what they produce is still striking visually it's very
interesting and others say watching them do it is quite
eerie a lot of the time.
>> With the Orang-utans they're kind of encouraged spot
by spot basis so they're given the brush, paint gets put
on the brush and then they're told to touch the paper
and for instance they touch the paper they're given a reward.
I think with the other apes it's a bit more free and they just go
for it and do what they like.
>> Touch, touch, good boy.
[ background music ]
>> I think if we are asked the question is it art
or is it just a creative activity
but it certainly makes me think more about looking at human art,
thinking you know is that art or what is the intention?
Can animals be creative,
it's you know art work is obviously only one version
of that because there are many other ways
that animals can express themselves, bird song
and other vocalisations that they clearly just doing things
for fun but it's certainly true
that animals do express themselves
so that does raise a question of you know if there's expression,
if there's creativity where does art begin and creativity end?
[ music ]