Returning to the Animal: The Dispositif and the Interdictions in Kentukis, by Samanta Schweblin

Abstract

The dispositif, a term first explored by Foucault and then by Agamben, is at the heart of the process of separating man from animal. In Kentukis, Samanta Schweblin seems to challenge this distinction by presenting a singular device: a small animal emulator, guided by cameras and prompted to move around the residence of whoever bought it, while being controlled by a random stranger, who embarks on an ontological inversion and tests the limits of social and spatial relations. This article proposes a precise scope, focusing on the animal transgression exercised by the individual who controls the device. Animality, recovered through the device, is understood as a way of circumventing the interdictions that fall upon humanity, returning to the dilemma presented by Bataille that exists since the birth of art.