ABSTRACT
The subject of this essay lies somewhere between the meaningless monosyllable of my title and the possibly utopian program of my epigraphs.3 This “AWK!” encapsulates the questions raised by the encounter between art and animality that frames my inquiry. In both its signications, as animal yelp, or, more familiarly, as marginal notation in red ink, this “AWK!” helps me to ask if that encounter is always-by denition-awkward? And if it is, can something be made of that awkwardness: a new aesthetic, perhaps, with which to undertake such visits to the non-human as are envisioned in my epigraphs and which have traditionally remained out of artistic bounds?
