Wojnarowicz created his first “Cock-a-bunny” in 1975, when he glued paper ears and cotton tails to cockroaches found in his apartment. The whimsical critters became part of his “Action Installations”—ephemeral events that sought to disrupt societal norms by presenting art in unexpected places. Wojnarowicz first released the cock-a-bunnies on the bar at the Peppermint Lounge, where he worked as a busboy. Sophie Breer, Wojnarowicz’s co-worker, was so delighted by their appearance that she rented a Betamax camera to document their creation.

Waje’s Cockabunnies is structured like the mid-century children’s television show “Romper Room,” in which the host leads children through activities and craft demonstrations. Breer captures Wojarowicz’s creative process as he sits at a child’s desk, cuts out bunny ears and tails, and secures them to the cockroaches with Q-tips and rubber cement. The audience, comprised of Breer, her sister and filmmaker Emily Breer, and Emily’s boyfriend David Baillie, frequently interjects with amused commentary and laughter.

Wojnarowicz’s most notorious cock-a-bunny action occurred in 1982 during the opening night of Beast: Animal Imagery in Recent Painting at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (now MoMA PS 1). Resentful that he was not included in the exhibition, he released approximately thirty “Cock-a-bunnies” into the galleries and museum offices. His intervention confronted marginalization and exclusion in the art world by bringing uninvited guests–himself and the cockroaches–into the aristocratic and sanitized space of the museum.