Zoo and Theatre. Do you have a tip for literature?

[Karol]

Hello,
I'm a theatre theorist and historian, but I'm also a zoo fan and an active zoo tourist. My colleagues are organizing a conference in Bratislava about the relationship between theatre and nature. The full title is: Man in Conflict with Nature: Environmental Problems, Ecological Thinking and Coexistence with the Natural World in Slovak Theatre. I signed up for it with the theme of the relationship between theatre and zoo. In particular, I want to deal with zoo architecture, but I also want to directly compare the relationship of the spectator to the theatre and the visitor to the zoo and so on. I've already found many direct parallels between art and the zoo. But I'm really an amateur on the subject of zoos. So I'd like to ask you if you have any literature tips?
I've read the books Zoo Buildings: Construction and Design Manual, Making Zoos Attractive and a few studies. Can you advise me (preferably in English or Czech) books, studies or articles on the subject? It will be especially complicated because the conference is exclusively about Slovak theatre and so I have to look for parallels between theatre and zoo, especially in Slovak zoos. Too bad we don't also have Gondwanaland or the whole Hannover Zoo, where this would be an easy topic.

 

[TinoPup]

That sounds so interesting! Here's a few other book suggestions. These are more from a sociological point of view, about why we go to zoos. I know there's others here who can give some good references on architecture.

- American Zoo: A Sociological Safari, by David Grazian
- Why Do We Go to the Zoo?: Communication, Animals, and the Cultural-Historical Experience of Zoos, by Erik Garrett
- Zoos and Tourism: Conservation, Education, Entertainment? (Aspects of Tourism, 46), by Dr. Warwick Frost
- Zooland, by Irus Braverman
- Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West, by Eric Baratay
- A Different Nature: The Paradoxical World of Zoos and Their Uncertain Future, by David Hancocks
- Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections To Zoological Gardens, by Vernon Kisling
- The Zoo and Screen Media: Images of Exhibition and Encounter, by Michael Lawrence
- The Ocean at Home: An Illustrated History of the Aquarium, by Bernd Brunner

 

[PossumRoach]

I agree with TinoPup. Dis does sound interesting. While I don’t know too much about literature nor actively collect them I believe that the TV, Movies, Books about Zoos & Wildlife section of zoo chat may have a few threads which may be very helpful to find the literature you seek.