How Many Legs?

With the support of the Culture & Animals Foundation and with the venue support of Ferda Art Platform, the exhibition took place between 13 June – 04 July 2026.

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Annika Eriksson, Deniz Tapkan Cengiz, Doğu Özgün, Ekin Keser, Elmas Deniz, Ferhat Özgür, Havva Zorlu, Hesen Chalak, İrem Yüksekbilgili, Jakup Ferri, Müge Akçakoca, Ozan Atalan, Özlem Gök, Sinan Orakçı, Yunus Çermik​​

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How Many Legs? is a contemporary art exhibition that examines the ethical, political, and emotional dimensions of human–animal relations through the question of empathy. Rather than focusing on taxonomy or biological differences, the project questions whether the number of legs, bodily form, or species classification determines whose life is considered worthy of care, protection, or mourning.

 

The exhibition draws on Jeremy Bentham’s argument that physical characteristics such as species or bodily form cannot justify denying moral consideration to a sentient being. Despite the historical depth of this line of thought, anthropocentric perspectives continue to shape urban life, industrial production, cultural representations, and legal frameworks.

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How Many Legs? positions itself within the cracks of these systems, making visible the boundaries that separate “human” life from “animal” life. Artists working across video, photography, sculpture, and painting address issues such as habitat destruction, industrial animal agriculture, violence toward non-human life, and the normalization of animal exploitation.

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Rather than treating animals as metaphors or symbols, the works position them as embodied subjects—beings with their own perspectives, vulnerabilities, rhythms, and forms of agency. Drawing on Jakob von Uexküll’s concept of the Umwelt, each work operates as a distinct perceptual world that touches, intersects with, or disrupts others. In these moments of contact, human and non-human worlds intersect, opening a shared space for ethical reflection.

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The aim of How Many Legs? is to foster a collective empathy that belongs neither solely to the human nor the animal realm, but exists in the relational space between them. The exhibition does not seek to offer moral resolutions; instead, it invites viewers to confront ambiguity, discomfort, and responsibility, calling for a reconsideration of coexistence beyond domination and utilitarian frameworks.

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