A vivarium is an artificially created room used for the controlled keeping and observation of animals or plants. In zoological gardens, these rooms enable the observation of living creatures in a simulated, often highly stylized section of their natural habitat. A boundary is created between the observer and the observed, based on an asymmetrical relationship: the human being as the subject observing an object (an animal or a plant).
The Vivarium humanicum series reflects this established division of roles and undermines it by reversing the direction of the gaze. The human being - the observing subject - now becomes the object of a targeted display. They are presented to the public in an artificially arranged, often stage-like or mediated space. The series thus thematizes a new type of voyeurism, in which the human being is made observable within a designed scene, comparable to an exhibit in a showcase or an animal.
This effect is further intensified by the use of artistic means such as collage, superimposition or digital montage. The people depicted (marginalized groups or unpleasant situations) appear as if on a screen whose surface both creates distance and simulates visual proximity. The audience's perception is not neutral, but is influenced by a spectrum of emotional and culturally learned reactions: Interest, curiosity, irritation, disgust, empathy or defensiveness, not-wanting-to-be-true or romanticization. 
Vivarium humanicum thus raises fundamental questions about the mechanics of seeing, the power of the gaze and the construction of social roles in the context of observation, representation and the public sphere.