Virtual Encounters of Another Kind

 Dr. Judith Benz-Schwarzburg gives a lecture on virtual animals at the Immersium in Vienna (Photo Credit: Oliver Hirtenfelder)

On the 8th of October 2025 the Vienna Animal Studies group hosted its largest lecture yet. Held within the impressive in Immersium in Vienna Dr. Judith Benz-Schwarzburg, a Senior Researcher in Animal Ethics and Animal Cognition at the Messerli Research Institute, talked to us about the ethics of digitally representing animals.

The event started with an opportunity to walk around the “Planet der Tiere” exhibition where guests were exposed to animals as wide ranging as polar bears, lions and jelly fish. The interactive experience and informational posters were designed to foster an experience for families to learn about animals and, as was discussed more in the Q&A, have fun. Striking the balance between having fun, making money, and ethically representing animals is tricky business.

Virtual representations are thought to offer a unique opportunity to educate while at the same time side-stepping the animal welfare concerns of traditional entertainment options involving ‘real’ animals. Animals found in zoos and circuses are regularly subjected to difficult living conditions, but these are often justified in the name of education and conservation despite the substance of these claims being dubious at best. Couple this promise of virtual representations of animals with the fact that children, and urbanites generally, are encountering more and more animals virtually, the question of how we ethically represent animals becomes pertinent.

“In the growing urbanized areas of the Global North typical childhood activities have changed in the past 30 decades: instead of playing outdoors, many children increasingly consume all sorts of media and manipulate technology indoors, which is among the reasons why psychologists and pedagogues believe that children currently undergo alienation from nature.”

Judith argued that while virtual encounters with animals do help to solve some important ethical problems, primarily around the material domination of animals, there is still a need to carefully consider how animals are represented and how such representations can be used to foster more just and equal relation with animals.

 The opening slides to a lecture on virtual animals by Dr. Judith Benz-Schwarzburg (Photo Credit: Oliver Hirtenfelder)

As it currently stands virtual representation of animals are still often defined by the same colonial and anthropocentric logics underpinning zoos, ideas that fail to account for the complex social and cultural lives of non-humans. A harm is done, Judith argues, when animals are objectified as entertainment in ways that fail to account for their complexity and interests.

“The underlying problem is that in visual consumption gaze and power are inextricably bound to each other: the ones in power can make the ones without power an entertainment object to watch. What seems to be harmless to many tourists engaging in such encounters is in fact a gesture of domination.”

Consequently, Judith believes that conservation and animal ethics need to be deliberately included in virtual displays of animals and that exhibitions should be mindful of how their interactive experiences have ramifications for real animals. The explosion of tourist experiences where people seek out opportunities to touch and take selfies with animals is one example. Exhibitions should foster space and tie to think deeply about animals and what kinds of interactions are just.

One of the many examples of virtual animals  Dr. Judith Benz-Schwarzburg discussed was representations of elephants at Circus Roncalli. While impressive, exhibitors couldn't help but position the animal in a pose of domination (Photo Credit: Oliver Hirtenfelder)

This led to an interesting discussion during the Q&A part of the evening. Judith noted how in the immersive exhibition there is a wonderful moment in which guests are afforded the opportunity to learn about poaching and how it impacts the lives of wild elephants. Judith encouraged organizers and curators to think more about how these types of stories could be told. Interestingly, however, Markus Beyr, Managing Director of Attraction, said this was the one part of the exhibition that consistently received complaints. He went on to say that the exhibitions have to be fun if they are going to attract families and make money. This tension between business and ethics is not a new one but it is certainly one that requires more attention than it is currently been given in animal studies. Equally, how to include animal ethics in the making of animal-based attractions has received too little attention by companies and institutions who are engaged in creating encounters with virtual animals. The event ended with a general excitement in the room of the possibilities for how this could be changed in the future.