— donkeys —

Equus asinus—the ass—the donkey has played a central role in religion, colonization, warfare, and the economics of almost every major civilization since its domestication over 5000 years ago. symbolized everything from power, strength, and stupidity, to wisdom, piousness, and fertility—think Midsummer Night’s Dream. Think Pinnochio. Think Shrek.

In our hyper-technological 21st century, the donkey seems out of place. Physical jobs it worked for millennia have been replaced by machines and the animal now promotes a nostalgia for pre-modern lifestyles. As such, the donkey becomes an ideal character through which we can wrestle with questions that define our contemporary world: increasing numbers of unemployed manual labourers, capitalism, technology, technophobia, and worker’s rights.

If you’re the charitable type, please consider supporting Donkey Sanctuary organizations. For each our of tours, we aim to sponsor a donkey at these sanctuaries on behalf of our presenters or producing partners.

If you need even more donkeys in your life, keep an eye out for arcade.asinus, a large scale gallery arcade by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim. Or check out DONKEY.BAS, a game from the early 80s made by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen.