In recent years, Toulouse residents have become accustomed to seeing flocks of ring-necked parakeets passing by. Originally domesticated and released birds that have adopted new environments. This is one of the many themes addressed by the new temporary exhibition at the Museum of Toulouse, “Domestique me if you can!” », labeled of national interest, visible during these All Saints’ Day school holidays.
If domestication is a term that we know well and that we generally associate with dogs or cats, “the reality is much richer and more complex”, retorts Noémie Verstraete, one of the museographers of this exhibition. At the entrance to this space, an evocation of fire recalls the origins of the word “domestic”, which comes from the Latin “domus”, house. Because the theme has been addressed over a long period of time, since the first animal domestication of the dog more than 10,000 years ago.
Begun in the Neolithic period, this process of domestication still continues today and, throughout history, it has had various interests for man. By proposing a parallel between the animal and the plant, the exhibition “Domestique me if you can!” » therefore goes back in length to all these aspects which have led human beings, from a wild species and through artificial selection, to “modify the behavior, morphology and genetics of populations”.
Without domestication of plants and animals, there is no meal
On this first day, Nadine came with her 2nd year BTS class Negotiation and digitalization of customer relations because “the subject corresponds to my general knowledge theme this year”. Although she regrets that the end of the course is not necessarily very clear, she appreciated the exhibition and is delighted that “the students took ownership of certain fun parts. It works well. And the texts are not too long. »
Through numerous interactive tools, the visitor in fact deepens the different uses behind the desire for domestication: from the ritual animal, to the plant or material animal, such as the mulberry bombyx, via the auxiliary animal, the ornamental plane, the show animal, the medicinal plant or the pet, we obviously arrive at the nourishing animal and plant.
A “domestic buffet” thus joins the two plant and animal parts of the exhibition in order to remind us that, without this domestication, there would only be water left on our meal table. Séverine also let herself be tempted, even if she doesn’t really like the basement space. “I find it a bit superficial, but I still learned things,” she notes, mentioning for example the fact that half of the chickens consumed in France are imported from Thailand, Ukraine and Brazil. As she leaves the scene, she is heard saying to herself: “We humans really did something wrong. »
Because the exhibition goes further than a simple presentation of domestication through the ages and questions our relationship with living things more broadly. “All of this raises the question of biodiversity, the impact on our environment and the interactions of these domesticated species with wild species,” underlines Noémie Verstraete. A confrontation which causes certain species to partially return to the wild state. This marooning is perfectly illustrated by our city pigeon, which must now coexist with ring-necked parakeets.