"You Are What You Read" - Dying Dog Installation Controversy

[bigtimecow]

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/27...gainst-artist/

to summarize, here's the basic facts:

a costa rican artist (in costa rica) named guillermo vargas paid 2 kids to capture a starving dog on the street. he then tied the dog to a rope and to the wall of an art gallery for part of an installation piece. the audience was informed not to feed the dog.

ACCORDING TO THE INTERNET the dog was there for several days, not fed, and eventually died of starvation.

ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE GALLERY the dog was only tied up for the three hours of the exhibition and then eventually escaped, all the while being fed by the artist.

the artist won't disclose whether or not the dog died, but he has said that his piece was meant to address the hypocrisy of people. hundreds of dogs are dying and starving on the streets everyday and no one makes a big deal out of it, but when he puts one on display in a gallery and calls it art it causes an uproar.

in my opinion, if the dog was indeed there for several days and died of starvation, then i think the artist could have made the statement in a different way, as i don't think harm should be brought to any living thing in the name of art without proper agreement to do so. if what the director of the gallery is saying is true, then whatever that's fine. either way, the statement behind the piece is very compelling and true. and i think the artist won't disclose the current status of the dog only because it doesn't really matter. the dog likely died out on the streets anyway.

apparently this happened late last year, but i just found out about it a few days ago.

[Dr. Boogie]

I saw this a little while ago. His whole point was that no one would feed the dog in the gallery, and he doesn't even consider the idea that people tend to assume that if a dog has an owner, that owner will eventually feed the dog himself. How avante garde!