Spirit Zoo Logic

Research Structure Spirit Zoologic employs 3D animation to create a collection of animal apparitions that respond to humanity's need to symbolise profound experiences of loss, fear, love, and death. Drawing from John Berger's "Why Look at Animals?", this practice-based research examines how capitalism has fractured ancient human-animal relationships, reducing animals to spectacle or commodity. The work manifests digital creatures—both endangered and stable species—that function as contemporary totems, addressing imbalances around power and the sacred during times of collective crisis. Research Contribution This research proposes "Spirit Zoologic" as a framework for understanding human-animal relationships through digital mediation. By positioning 3D animation as a site of interspecies encounter, it challenges Berger's assertion that modern animals disappoint through lost autonomy, suggesting digital spaces might restore reciprocal engagement. Through each creature's haunting question "will you miss me when I'm gone?", the work establishes new vocabularies for discussing extinction, presence, and absence in the Anthropocene. Research Significance Spirit Zoologic addresses species extinction and environmental crisis through digital culture, proposing that stories become mythologies that outlive their tellers. The work suggests digital technologies can serve as meaningful encounter spaces rather than mere documentation tools, creating liminal boundaries between presence and absence, real and digital. This research offers new methodologies for processing collective grief while questioning whether digital apparitions might restore sacred human-animal connections in an era of ecological collapse.

研究项目「灵态动物学（Spirit Zoologic）」借助三维动画（3D animation）打造了一系列动物幻影，用以呼应人类以具象形式表达丧失、恐惧、爱与死亡等深层体验的需求。本研究借鉴约翰·伯格（John Berger）的著作《观看动物》（Why Look at Animals?），以实践为导向展开，探讨资本主义如何割裂了人类与动物间的古老联结，将动物降格为奇观或商品。该作品塑造了涵盖濒危与存续物种在内的数字化生灵，将其作为当代图腾，旨在应对集体危机时期权力与神圣性之间的失衡问题。

研究贡献：本研究提出「灵态动物学」作为通过数字中介理解人兽关系的分析框架。将三维动画视作跨物种相遇的场域，本研究对伯格提出的“现代动物因丧失自主性而令人失望”的论断提出挑战，认为数字空间或可重建双向互动的联结。通过每个生灵萦绕不去的诘问“我离去后，你是否会思念我？”，该作品为探讨人类世（Anthropocene）中的灭绝、在场与缺席建立了全新的话语体系。

研究意义：「灵态动物学」依托数字文化探讨物种灭绝与环境危机，提出故事可转化为超越讲述者本身的神话。该作品认为，数字技术不仅可作为记录工具，更可成为富有意义的相遇场域，在在场与缺席、现实与数字之间构建阈限边界。本研究为处理集体性哀伤提供了全新方法论，同时也对“在生态崩溃的时代，数字幻影是否能够重建神圣的人兽联结”这一命题展开了探讨。