Animal Cruelty In The Name Of Art - Help Stop This!

[Lee]

Originally Posted by dj.

Im not sure Pirx, I respect your opinion and your wifes..but..

Ditto to all that DJ said. There is no doubt that there is confusion and conflicting stories on this incident all over the internet, and all any of us can do is trawl through and research it ourselves and come to our own conclusion. As I said before, for me, there was enough out there when I looked into it to convince me that there was at minimum some horrific abuse of an animal that took place in the name of 'art', and that is why I posted this thread here and spread the word about the petition as many ways as I could.

Whether or not the dog actually died of starvation and mistreatment from that event we will probably never know, but the idea that this 'artist' can now carry on and make more money off of an animal's obvious suffering by repeating this 'performance' is the main point to me at the end of the day.

I see no evidence at all that this is just a 'hoax', the fact that the gallery director is now saying it lived and wasn't completely starved etc, holds no water with me at all, the fact they allowed this happen in the first place tells me all that I need to know of them (and the controversy over this event has not been good pr for the gallery has it, ever heard of damage limitation pr?)

Again I say thanks to everyone who posted here, took the trouble to look into it all yourselves and form an opinion, but a special thanks to those who signed the petition to hopefully prevent it from being repeated, sanctioned and paid for by the Central American Visual Arts Biennial.

[Artrat]

Yes, I also came across the hoax claims. What occurs to me though, is what do you think the gallery would say when faced with the overwhelming public outcry?

It may have been a hoax, maybe not, either way signing the petition only cost me 5 minutes of my time.

[waperboy]

This really made me hurt, as I'm a dog lover and have been around dogs most of my life.
What kind of sick f***ed-up people come up with such ideas, and more incomprehensible yet - what kind of people will support it with money?

I don't know if it was good or not of you to post this; not, because it made me feel sick - but good, since these kinds of people must be stopped.

Edit: Wow, over two million signatures on the petition

[Dessa]

If this is true its really disturbing.
It always hurt to see animals or humans for that matter being treated bad.
But animals are more innocent in a way, they dont pollute the planet ,start wars and such things.

[LedEye]

Signed and sent!

[LarsMac]

I offer the following comment, attributed to the "artist":

"Recently, I have been critisized for my work titled “Eres lo que lees”, which features a dog named Nativity. The purpose of the work was not to cause any type of infliction on the poor, innocent creature, but rather to illustrate a point. In my home city of San Jose, Costa Rica, tens of thousands of stray dogs starve and die of illness each year in the streets and no one pays them a second thought.

Now, if you publicly display one of these starving creatures, such as the case with Nativity, it creates a backlash that brings out a big of hypocrisy in all of us. Nativity was a very sick creature and would have died in the streets anyway."


From what I can find out about this, with my limited Spanish, is that Mr Vargas had street urchins go and capture this dog from the streets the day of this exhibit. He named it Natividad (nativity), in honor of a homeless bum named Natividad Candas, who was killed by two guard dogs, while people stood and watched, doing nothing. The dog was there for around three hours, and no one gave it any water or food, or tried to comfort it.

Depending on who you believe, the dog either escaped back to the streets that day, or died. But a point of order, here: None of the factual data indicates the artist took a healthy dog, and deliberately starved it to death in the name of art, as the petition starter suggests.
As for the upcoming show, the event organizer has indicated that no such performance would be within the rules of the show.

[Pirx Danford]

Originally Posted by dj.

That is a starving dog, I hope he's ok, but I highly doubt it.

You are right in that it is a dog that suffered a long period of hunger.
Which makes sense as the artist took one of the thousands of dogs that are condemned to death in this city.

As we humans are, there are elaborate researches on animals in all states of, there is no other way to describe it, torture.
I say this as you mention that the dog stood up because he was afraid and believed he had a chance to get a meal.
Well if this dog would have ben on the brink to starvation even electrocution would not have him made move, sadly this is scientifically proven.

But if the dog was fed or died is a moot point somehow - as the artist said it would have died anyway.
This sounds cruel but is reality - a reality that maybe can be changed?!

Anyhow I also signed the petition, but more in the sense of hoping that the reasons will be fought.

[Mikass]

Originally Posted by GoNi

Humans are the most brutal animal ever living on this planet.

Another time one of our species proofed this!

yeh but actually, animals would be just as brutal/nasty as us if they had the brains we have heh. the lovely kitten some have in their living rooms won`t hesitate to eat them alive if they have the misfortune to die there and not be found for a while.

anyways I don`t get the people that are more concerned over the faith of an animal than those of millions of people starving to death. how come no one is concerned for the faith of insects? why have sympathy for mamels? cos they resemble us in a way? cos we can see joy , pain or suffering in them same as we see in humans? it`s weak

[LarsMac]

My final thoughts on this:

I get from this that the "art" was the guy bringing the dog into the gallery and seeing what the viewers did.
In this case, the viewers did nothing. How truly sad.
Art is a statement by the artist on the human condition.
much art is about the reaction to it, as much as the piece itself.

If the result of the exhibit is simply a few million people signing this petition that prevents this artist from doing something like this again, then what really is the point?

If it helps to bring awareness to the huge numbers of dogs and cats left to fend for themselves, dying of starvation and disease in the cities of the world, then perhaps it was a good thing.
If it helps to raise awareness of the suffering involved in starvation, and maybe leads to an understanding in us that we should strive to prevent starvation in a world where people throw away millions of tons of food a day, then I say this man is a hero.

In my opinion PETA and The Hunger Project should embrace this man and the work. The photograph of the starving dog, with people standing around eating canapes and drinking chardonay should become a poster.

[dj.]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

My final thoughts on this:

I get from this that the "art" was the guy bringing the dog into the gallery and seeing what the viewers did.
In this case, the viewers did nothing. How truly sad.
Art is a statement by the artist on the human condition.
much art is about the reaction to it, as much as the piece itself.

If the result of the exhibit is simply a few million people signing this petition that prevents this artist from doing something like this again, then what really is the point?

If it helps to bring awareness to the huge numbers of dogs and cats left to fend for themselves, dying of starvation and disease in the cities of the world, then perhaps it was a good thing.
If it helps to raise awareness of the suffering involved in starvation, and maybe leads to an understanding in us that we should strive to prevent starvation in a world where people throw away millions of tons of food a day, then I say this man is a hero.

In my opinion PETA and The Hunger Project should embrace this man and the work. The photograph of the starving dog, with people standing around eating canapes and drinking chardonay should become a poster.

Great post, and I agree. Most people will sign that petition then forget about it.
Better off finding a relevant charity and making a donation.

..If there is one there, im posting in ignorance, as I havent even looked.

In some ways Im as bad as those guys standing around eating the canapes, I havent lifted a finger either to help.