for the love of panda art

from the Pandodyssey International Arts Desk (obviously, not mine)

Writer stages zoo stay for play

Norbert Aboudarham, 57, part-time French playwright, and full-time panda stand-in. For the sake of his art, Norbert lived in a cage at the Amiens Zoo for up to 10 hours a day writing The Panda's Flea. When asked why, Norbert responded that the reason was "about the universe, you have to put yourself in a cage smaller than the universe." (Maybe that lost something in translation?)

Norbert didn't share a cage with other animals, but his surrounding neighbors at the zoo included red pandas, wolves, and raccoons. And when I say "cage", I mean a chain-link enclosed boxed CAGE! (Tai & Mei live in the Taj Mahal of all panda enclosures in comparison! Would love to link a pic here for illustration purposes but I.can't.grr.)

"The writer had his laptop inside to work on but he refused to talk to visitors, communicating only using messages passed through the bars. "This experiment magnifies characteristics. For example aggressive visitors become a bit more irascible," said Aboudarham. "I am exhausted because I get a lot of requests. It is much more tiring than I thought."