Britz & Mitte: How Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano’s Playful Fox Duo Took Over Sydney
Berlin-based duo Petrit Halilaj & Álvaro Urbano entered a new playful piece titled Britz & Mitte to the 2024 Sydney Biennale. The piece was a performance where the two artists dressed in realistic fox suits, transforming into fox characters named Britz & Mitte. Together, they frolicked around the Biennale and the city, interacting with both the urban landscape and passersby.
The foxes are mischievous, often caught in playful antics that surprise and delight unsuspecting audiences. The piece weaves whimsical theatrics into its narrative, encouraging people to reflect on how urbanization has encroached upon the habitats of wild animals. This intrusion has profoundly impacted foxes like Britz & Mitte, forcing them to adapt to human spaces and drastically alter their natural way of life. By highlighting these shifts, the piece aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life on Land, urging a deeper awareness of the fragile balance between urban expansion and wildlife conservation.
Curated by Cosmin Costinaş and Inti Guerrero, Britz & Mitte will unfold across Sydney through a series of spontaneous and unannounced events, culminating in a final performance at the 2024 Sydney Biennale’s central venue, the White Bay Power Station.
Britz & Mitte are a pair of European red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), a species introduced to Australia in the mid-19th century. Over time, they have spread across the country, gradually shifting from rural and agricultural landscapes into urban environments. Today, they are found in every suburb of Sydney—a presence that has led to their classification as pests, despite their undeniable beauty.
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC), pest ecologist Dr. Graham Wilson from the Greater Sydney Local Land Services shared that the pandemic has increased urban encounters with foxes due to how lockdowns meant that people started keeping vegetable gardens and pet chickens at home—two of foxes favourite food sources.
These so-called urban foxes have even drastically changed their behaviour and biological make-up to better navigate urban landscapes. While typical wild foxes are nocturnal, urban foxes are increasingly diurnal. They are also bolder and do not fear encountering and interacting with humans as they understand that these interactions may often lead to food, whether by getting hand-fed or being led to household trash.
As a result, urban foxes are larger and fatter than their wild relatives. This is also reflected in Britz & Mitte, where although the two foxes' sizes are due to the suits being tailored to fit the human artists within them, they are also reminders of how human activity is increasingly changing the biology of real foxes.
While human-fox interactions become more common, risks of human infection also increase. Foxes are known to carry diseases such as rabies, toxocariasis (roundworms) and visceral leishmaniasis (black fever), all of which are transmittable to humans. However, “Like it or not, foxes in our cities and suburbs are here to stay,” says Dr Wilson.
Art pieces like Britz & Mitte play a crucial role in raising awareness and sparking change. By highlighting the presence of urban foxes, the piece encourages a deeper understanding of how these animals navigate human-dominated spaces and challenges misconceptions that label them as pests. Through whimsy and theatricality, it invites Australians to rethink their relationship with wildlife and consider ethical ways to coexist. By fostering empathy and awareness, Britz & Mitte take a meaningful step toward inspiring humane solutions that balance conservation, urban planning and responsible stewardship, ensuring that both foxes and humans can share these spaces in harmony.