Saeborg

Animal Golf

Saeborg calls herself an “imperfect cyborg that is half-human and half-toy.”

Saeborg is a Japanese artist known for her performances wearing latex body suits and cartoon-like installations. Her exaggerated, poppy and ‘kawaii’ characters and spaces are not just that – they also offer critical reflections on identity, gender, biopolitics and animal welfare.

Animal Golf invites players to swap a traditional putter for a strap-on latex animal tail—fox, kangaroo, squirrel, and more and use their bodies to play. A chaotic soundtrack of humans making animal noises marks a timed play period and turns the putting green into an absurd performance space. Players are asked to treat their tails as extensions of their own bodies, prompting empathy and a playful rethinking of the human-animal divide.

Animal Golf extends Saeborg’s ongoing critique of consumer culture and the systems through which bodies both animal and human are disciplined, commodified, and controlled.

Installation view of ‘Animal Golf‘, Saeborg (2025). Commissioned by RISING Melbourne. PHOTO: Eugene Hyland.