Hohbach Hall Exhibits
Hohbach Hall Exhibits Program

Man is a Primate

As part of the exhibit "The Apes & Us", Noah Sveiven invited patrons to reflect on the similarities between humans and primates.

Prompt

Man is a Primate 
was the first sentence of a 1969 proposal submitted for an outdoor primate facility on Stanford’s campus. Five years later, the Stanford Outdoor Primate Facility, also known as “Gombe West”, opened. While the site is now abandoned, Noah Sveiven’s art installation prompts members of the Stanford community to once again consider the fundamental similiarities between humans and apes. 

We invite you to add your portrait to this display using the camera provided. 

Noah Sveiven 
undergraduate, History Department 

Man is a Primate, 2024 
mirrors, photographic prints 

Based on the original 2023 installation in Seiven’s residence hall.

Over 100 patrons of Stanford University Libraries added their portrait to Noah Sveiven's art installation "Man is a Primate".  Displayed next to photographs of primates in both the wild and captivity, the portraits captured a wide range of human expressions from smiles and silly faces to recreations of the primates' poses on the wall. 

Patrons pose for the camera.
A selection of snaps by patrons. Bottom row: the two people on the right  mimic the pose of the ape in the first image on the left.

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Interactive Wall

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