Changing the Future from the Zoo: Exhibition Design at the New York Bronx Zoo

2019/05/09

I must be quite an eccentric, having grown up as both an animal geek and a zoo geek, while wondering since childhood about the conditions under which the existence of a zoo can be justified. My grades in the sciences were poor, so I never intended to study veterinary medical sciences or animal science. I was also strongly interested in art, photography, and graphic design, but I lacked the determination and courage to make a living from them. As a result, the universities I was accepted to were the German Department at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and the Faculty of Business and Commerce at Keio. I chose Keio for the old-fashioned reason that it would provide "versatile skills."

As a bookworm, I found a job at a printing company that dealt with both publishing and advertising. I requested a transfer to New York, where I worked with famous photographers and graphic designers, which might have given me some "bad influences." I was struck by the exhibits at the Bronx Zoo and, after some twists and turns, landed a job in the exhibition department. I was able to utilize my knowledge and experience in printing and copyright. Furthermore, when I attended gatherings of educators from zoos and aquariums, I found that many concepts like "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs," which I had heard about in lectures at Mita 20 years ago, were being applied.

Come to think of it, what I do is nothing other than marketing for wildlife conservation and animal welfare, using the zoo exhibition experience as a medium (incidentally, I hear that under Japanese law, the term "welfare" is not used for organisms other than humans). This book, which I wrote in collaboration with Hiroto Kawabata, is neither a book about animals nor necessarily a book about design. It is structured so that as we tour the Bronx Zoo, we discuss the functions that a zoo facility can fulfill in society, the role that exhibitions play within that, and the principles for realizing those roles, all while contrasting them with the actual situation in Japan. I used many photographs and tried to make it easy to understand even for those who know nothing about zoos. Consequently, it does not reach the core of the question of what the management system for highly public projects should be, but for those familiar with the Japanese system, the issues will be clear.

I hope this book will be read not only by those interested in zoos and aquariums, but also by those interested in museums and their management, as well as those interested in the designated manager system and the independent administrative institution system.

Changing the Future from the Zoo: Exhibition Design at the New York Bronx Zoo

Kimio Honda, Hiroto Kawabata

Aki Shobo

280 pages, 2,000 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.