This work is a cooperation with the long-time collaborator, scriptwriter Chen Wan-Yin. 　　The work is about a scriptwriter and a performer having a conversation in an animal taxidermist’s studio. They attempt to come up with a performance, exploring the relationship between ‘gestures’ and ‘horrors’. 　　The conversation revolves around two events from Japanese Taiwan during World War II. One is the memorial ceremony held in a zoo to commemorate animals that died during military operations. Animals such as elephants and orangutans were trained to kneel as a symbolic posture for mourning. The other reference is the 1944 massive animal execution in the Taiwanese zoo, intended to prevent civilian casualties caused by animals after the US military had bombed the cities. The unfortunate animals were then turned into taxidermy to preserve their movements and postures. 　　In addition to the dialogue between the two characters, both the Taiwanese Zoo and the zoo's taxidermy studio were architecturally reconstructed using 3D scanning technology.

２４時間あいていて入場は無料の小さな動物園が舞台。山形県にあるこの動物園は、年老いたシカやクジャクが人気で、７０年以上にわたって親しまれてきた。動物の救護所を兼ねていて、ケガをして飛べなくなった鳥や交通事故にあったキツネなど、ケガや病気で保護されてきた動物たちもいる。毎日来て動物に話しかける人、傷つき保護された動物に自らを重ねる人など、いろんな人がここを訪れ、何かを思い、去っていく。

Sparkling, masterful début by Kovalov is found-footage compilation of e.g. news items, propaganda material and instruction films. For his directing début, Oleg Kovalov chose a very extravagant experiment. As a basis he took a propaganda film from the fifties, The Case of Corporal Kochetkov, dissected this as it were and gave the naked structure a new substance and new accents by re-cutting the shots and adding documentary material from the fifties, such as newsreel footage of Khrushchev's visit to America and pictures of the visit by Yves Montand and Simone Signoret to Moscow. The film about corporal Kochetkov called on the Soviet citizens to be on their guard and showed how sly the enemy was: for instance it could pose as an innocent girl. Kovalov creams off the emotional froth from this melodrama, deconstructs its codes and subjects it to a thoughtful analysis. For instance he reveals paranoia and spy-phobia, complexes in the 'collective Soviet unconscious' that is still active even in relatively enlightened periods.

雇われ探偵としてうだつの上がらない日々を過ごす青年は、ある日とある依頼主に、妻の調査を頼まれる。不倫疑惑のある妻の本性を暴く為、妻の尾行を開始するが、あっさりと見失ってしまう。「何か御用ですか」背中から聞こえてきた気品のある声の持ち主は、依頼主の妻だった。何故か調査に協力的な妻に同行する青年は次第に、彼女の魅力に引き込まれていく…

舞台は東京のど真ん中にある植物園。冬の間は見どころは少ないのかと思いきや、何かを目当てに訪れる人たちがいる。人生の転機に梅を見に来たという人や、立ち枯れている様子こそ見ていて風情があると語る人。じっとベンチに座って木々を見ている人もいる。あえて冬に、植物と向き合おうとする人たち。そのまなざしの先に何があるんだろう。３日間、一緒に過ごしてみた。