Facing an avalanche of criticism, the Guggenheim surrendered late Monday and said it would remove three major works from a highly anticipated exhibition of art by Chinese conceptual artists, including the signature piece of the show, which opens next month.
The museum, in Manhattan, made the decision after it had come under unrelenting pressure from animal-rights supporters and critics over works in the exhibition, “Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World.” Protesters marched outside the museum over the weekend, and an online petition demanding “cruelty-free exhibits” at the Guggenheim had been signed by more than half a million people as of Monday night.
The three works, which all involve animals, are “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” “Theater of the World” and “A Case Study of Transference.” The pieces were among about 150 works selected for the show, mostly experimental art and many of them shocking, intended to challenge authority and use animals, in video, to call attention to the violence of humankind.
The museum planned to show a video of “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” in which four pairs of dogs try to fight one another but struggle to touch because they are on nonmotorized treadmills, and a video of “A Case Study of Transference,” which shows two pigs having sex before an audience. But “Theater of the World” was the signature work of the show and was going to feature hundreds of live insects and reptiles milling under an overhead lamp.
Xu Bing’s “A Case Study of Transference,” 1994. The artwork originally featured live pigs, but the Guggenheim was going to use a video of the Beijing performance. Xu Bing
The museum said the works were being removed “out of concern for the safety of its staff, visitors and participating artists.”
Interesting story. What do conservatives feel worse or better about, that an artsy fartsy art museum lost a pretentious exhibit, or that PETA succeeded in shutting down something?
There is something disturbing to me about forcing dogs to confront one another but totally restraining them from action. Neither is a video of people watching pigs do it an uplifting artistic achievement in my view.
Watching insects and bugs crawl all over each other is not 'art' that appeals to me either.
This is art!!! I think not.
I guess anyone can be an 'artist' these days.
I thought this seed would get some comments. I guess the right wingers are too busy complaining about shit.
The power of protest has started to become scary, not because protesting is wrong, but because it can stifle independant thought, cultural differences, and creativity as artists themselves have noticed:
Artists Blast Guggenheim for Pulling Works Involving Animals
NY Times: A show was to feature videos of dogs and pigs and an installation of live insects and reptiles. But the museum bowed to protesters.
or the thought police will have us eating rabbits like Venezuela.