Animalia Paradoxa

'God created, Linnaeus organized'. This is how Carl Linnaeus, the famous eighteenth-century Swedish physician, botanist, zoologist and geologist described his contribution to science. Centuries later, his classification system is still used worldwide, as are many of the names he gave to individual species, such as the name for man: Homo sapiens.

Linnaeus made a survey of all plant and animal species in the world in order to unravel the secret of creation. To his work - the Systema Naturae - he added a curious list: the Animalia Paradoxa, the species that are unclassifiable. To that chapter we zoom in.

Animalia Paradoxa is a unique collaboration between Duda Paiva and Lavinia Meijer. They bring Linnaeus' wondrous animalia to life and explore the indefinable, that which does not fit into a box and in which nature reveals its true nature. How would the eighteenth-century taxonomist assess the diversity of the modern world?

Duda and Lavinia recognize themselves in the peculiarity of the "Animalia Paradoxa. Not fitting within the system. Their authenticity brings them new forms to express themselves in, with striking images and original music, recently awarded by professional juries: Duda received the Swan for Avatāra, Lavinia received an Edison in 2022 for her album Are you still somewhere? with partly their own compositions.