Arts-based project reveals the untold stories of Pavlov’s dogs

Back in 2020, I wrote a piece for The Psychologist about my research into the history of the legendary Russian physiologist-turned-psychologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), or more precisely, his dogs.

I highlighted the neglected role of the thousands of dogs involved, drawing attention to the detail of their daily lives, their varied experiences, their relationship with human workers in Pavlov's sprawling St Petersburg laboratory complex.

As I dug deeper, I became convinced that the story of Pavlov's dogs had all the elements of a compelling narrative that could appeal to a wider non-academic audience. In 2022 I was awarded an AHRC Fellowship to engage in visual storytelling and arts-based research to thoroughly test this conviction! My main focus has been the collaborative creation of two arts-based outputs.

Firstly, working with a professional illustrator and story editor, we are in the process of creating a 200-page work of graphic nonfiction focusing on Pavlov's life and work and, vitally, the central role of experimental animals in the many twists and turns of a remarkably eventful period.

We hope to complete this by September.

The second is an art installation for an upcoming exhibition, Pavlov and the Kingdom of Dogs: A Secret History. The heart of this aspect of the project lies in the creation of a series of dioramas – miniature three-dimensional models – which, along with images, text and audio features, make up the exhibition.

The dioramas invite audiences into a world teeming with elements from Pavlov's laboratory, set against the tumultuous backdrop of resistance and revolution in late 19th and early 20th century St Petersburg. Dogs, humans, lab equipment, surgical appendages, experimental procedures and a changing society come to life in meticulously recreated scenes incorporating a series of models, text and audio guides.

Tapping into our enduring fascination for miniature worlds, the models revel in the details: parkland, architecture, interior design, technology, experimental procedures, dogs, co-workers and visitors. Highlights include the sinister goings on in the Tower of Silence, an antivivisection protest threatening to get out of hand, the medicinal uses of the gastric juice of a dog, and a 'Pavlov: Action Comrade' figure (with accessories of course).

The project draws inspiration from records of Pavlov's working methods, contemporaneous news coverage, medical archives, biographies and social history. Throughout the exhibition Pavlov's dogs, once anonymous experimental subjects, take centre stage in a darkly playful twist on accepted narratives in popular and academic psychology, challenging received wisdom concerning Pavlov's methods, supposedly docile experimental animals, and the reliability of 'classical conditioning' experiments.

The Kingdom of Dogs also aims to spark more general discussion about animals as active participants in research and contribute to a re-evaluation of nonhuman animal-based research across disciplines.

The exhibition will take both a physical and digital form. The physical exhibition is being co-created with Jim Wilson, a designer, maker and educator also based at the University of Brighton.

Additional input has come from photographers, illustrators, print makers and designers. It will be hosted by 35 North Gallery, Brighton throughout most of May 2024 as part of the Brighton Fringe arts festival. Entry is free and all are welcome.

The online exhibition is being created with design agency williamjoseph and will launch around the same time.

Please consider visiting if you can – I am especially interested in how psychologists of all stripes will engage with and interpret the exhibition.

Updates on the project can be found on Instagram. Look out for the graphic novel in 2025!

Matthew Adams, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, University of Brighton.

Update: the online exhibition is now live.

Further reading

Matthew Adams, The kingdom of dogs: Matthew Adams revisits Pavlov's labs from a dog's perspective, 27 April 2020   
David Carless and Kitrina Douglas, 2016 Arts-based research – radical or conventional?
David Carless and Kitrina Douglas make the case for an alternative methodology.11 April 2016.
Adams, M. (2020). The kingdom of dogs: Understanding Pavlov's experiments as human–animal relationships. Theory & Psychology, 30(1), 121-141.
Adams, M. (forthcoming) Arts-based research, animal studies and Pavlov's dogs: making the familiar strange in Psychology, Qualitative Research in Psychology. 
Chamberlain, K., McGuigan, K., Anstiss, D., & Marshall, K. (2018). A change of view: Arts-based research and psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 15(2-3), 131-139.
Volsche, S., Root‐Gutteridge, H., Korzeniowska, A. T., & Horowitz, A. (2023). Centring individual animals to improve research and citation practices. Biological Reviews, 98(2), 421-433.