“Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography” opening at The Momentary

On November 23, 2024, the Momentary will open Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography, a photography-focused exhibition that showcases the relationship between pets and humans. Through Best in Show, Momentary visitors will have the opportunity to explore the role that furry (and feathered) friends have played in culture and how they stand in as representations of status, power, loyalty, compassion, and companionship.

Featuring works by 25 artists who use their unique artistic practices to portray pets in different ways, the exhibition explores how humans often place animals on a pedestal and consider them from all perspectives: as life partners, status symbols, friends and family members, and as works of art. Organized by Fotografiska New York, Best in Show celebrates and acknowledges these constant companions, their presence in Western art and popular culture, and their multifaceted relationships with humans.

Works on view will include examples by William Wegman, famed for his portraits of his Weimaraners; Walter Chandoha, the world’s first professional cat photographer; and Sophie Gamand, known for her touching, sensitive photographs of dogs taking baths.

To mark the exhibition’s opening, the Momentary will host a House Party on Saturday, November 23, featuring artmaking, games, food and drinks, tours of the exhibition, and an opportunity for guests to have their pets photographed or painted. The event will also include a pet adoption pop-up and a treat making workshop in collaboration with Best Friends Animal Society, a leading animal welfare organization working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters and make the country no-kill in 2025. Their new Pet Resource Center opened in Bentonville last year as a community destination for people and pets.

The Momentary’s annual performance art festival INVERSE will also take place during the same weekend, November 21 – 24. The four-day festival features more than 45 artists and projects who are in constant interrogation of material, form, and gesture to offer new ideas and perspectives on how we experience the world.

Best in Show is on view at the Momentary from November 23, 2024, through April 13, 2025. The show is free and open to the public. For more information on the exhibition, opening events, and INVERSE, visit the Momentary’s website.

Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Marsha and John Phillips, Scarlet and Neff Basore, Anna and Carl George, Johnny Mike Walker, and Simmons Pet Food.

Featured image: Topiary, 2010, Tim Flach, Inkjet print, 29 1/2 in. x 59 in. © Tim Flach