artist starves dog - is asked to do it again

violet

I'm getting a second round of email from animal-loving and art-loving friends about this. I already signed the petition (after google-ing and snope-ing the case and finding that it's real). Please sign if you are moved to.


"Artist" Starves Dog to Death at Show (and is asked to do it again)

Guillermo "Habacuc" Vargas is an artist from Costa Rica. For one of his gallery exhibitions, he paid five children to trap a stray dog for him. He tied the dog (who he called Natividad) to a wall and starved the dog to death. The Central American Art Biennial has invited "Habacuc" Vargas to stage the "piece" once again in Honduras in 2008.

I read that some visitors to the gallery asked to help the dog and the "artist" and the gallery would not allow it. Responding to outcry the gallery claimed, at one point, that the dog was fed when the gallery was closed until he escaped one night. But the "artist" says that the dog did die of starvation and thirst. Later he said the dog was sick and would have died anyway. After the dog died they removed the body, and the "work" became just the rope tied to the wall.

I understand that the "artist" said at first that the "piece" was about a guard who was mauled to death by dogs, but later said it was about how people ignore stray and hungry animals in his town.

A petition is available for people to sign requesting that The Central American Art Biennial not allow a similar "work" in their 2008 Biennial in Honduras.

Petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/



BE WARNED! The links below shows pictures of the dog in the process of dying from starvation and thirst.

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES IN THE LINKS

WARNING images at:
http://elperritovive.blogspot.com/

WARNING more images at:

caseopele

That is fucking sick, I couldn't even look at the pictures. What the hell kind of art involves torturing a living thing to death? That freak should be tied to a wall in front of a restaurant and starved to death. And people wonder why I like animals more than people. :roll:

jeffrey

***edited with the following change

Snopes says it's still "undetermined" whether this is a hoax or not.

Was it just PR to prove a sinister point? Did they feed it privately, but claim no food or care to the public? Did it just escape, but they claimed it died of hunger to get more press?

Who knows. Sick all around though.

carnivore

Believe it or not, it could be worse:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23590407-2,00.html?from=public_rss

whatchuwant

Carnivore wrote: Believe it or not, it could be worse:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23590407-2,00.html?from=public_rss

See, I don't see how this could be defined as worse. If a person chooses to die before an audience, it's their choice. Not some helpless animal who gets caught, dragged to a "gallery," and has people stare blankly at it while he/she suffers to death.

But I like animals more than people. :elephant:

violet

I agree with Whatchuwant.
A human who agrees to participate, so long as their participation is informed and consensual, becomes a partner in the piece.
At best it gives them a voice, and strengthens the work.
At worst the artist and the dying person mildly exploit one another.

The article says that a person would die "for art".
But I don't think that's accurate.
I think that's just a paper trying to make a dramatic headline.
They'd die anyway (what is anyone's reason for dying?) and their death would be used in art.

One gallery owner said:

"Existential matters like death, birth or the act of reproduction do not belong in a museum."

No, after all, it's supposed to be about making money [/sarcasm] :roll: .
The question of whether it's like watching an execution is interesting.
(I think it's not like watching an execution, though.)

Anyway it's not death that bothers me.
Everyone dies and it's not always a horrible thing.
It is suffering and cruelty that makes me sad.
And when it's an animal being hurt it makes me even sadder.
The dog didn't agree to participate, and probably didn't even understand what was happening.
I think that there's a big difference.

raw

Guillermo "Habacuc" Vargas is an original, talented, and unique artist! How did he conceive this brilliant concept of starving helpless animals? Wow...who ever heard of such a brilliant concept...Maybe Marquis de Sade back in the 1700s? Maybe Vargas will do the world a favor and take after Kafka's Hunger Artist and starve himself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Hunger_Artist