Artist banned from strangling puppies
The Local · 27 Apr 2012, 17:02
Published: 27 Apr 2012 17:02 GMT+02:00
The performance, entitled "Death as Metamorphosis," was to take place next week in a small theatre in the Spandau district of Berlin. Accompanied by funeral music and a gong, the artist was going to strangle two puppies with cable ties after a brief meditation.
According to a report in the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper, the provocative piece was meant to highlight the plight of sled dogs in Alaska and hunting dogs in Spain, which are said to be killed in the same way once they can no longer work.
The artist's planned performance was influenced by "traditional Thai art forms," the Express newspaper reported.
The Berlin administrative court stopped the show from going ahead on Friday, saying that animal protection laws forbid an animal from being harmed in any way in a show. The artist had argued that Germany's constitution "unconditionally guarantees artistic freedom."
The report appeared in the same week as a controversial project by two art students at Berlin's University of the Arts (UdK). Students Iman Rezai and Rouven Materne are threatening to guillotine a sheep on camera, depending on the results of an online vote.
The experiment is meant to stimulate debate on humanity and democracy. Materne said the guillotine was chosen because "it represents a society that wants to give its cruelties the appearance of humanity."
According to a report in Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper, the website registered 190,000 "No" votes and 120,000 "Yes" votes in six days.
"The anonymity of the internet lures the perversity out of some people," the 23-year-old explained. The artists are planning to ignore the protests and reveal the results of the vote in an exhibition in mid-May.
The Local/bk
Your comments about this article
Traditionally, among Alaskan natives, sled dogs were extremely important, without which a hunter could die. They kept him warm in the worse of storms if caught out, and they were his companions and friends. Puppies could be like their own children. You may always have someone who treats animals for whatever reason, but that is not a common practice because we, by majority try to respect all life, especially the earth and its creatures.
In an environment that is often stark in its extreme: life and death, ever present just in taking a wrong step on the ice, a wave that washes you into a freezing sea, or predatory animals who have a more than even chance of taking YOU out in a one-on-one confrontation....sometimes when an animal was old or especially if seriously injured, or resources were limited, dogs might sometimes be put to death.
I can't speak for how dogs are treated in Spain, but I am a North American Indian who taught in the Indian Education system and served as president of an association there for two elected terms. Some of these people, artists or whatever, so-called educated who like to think they are the ultimate in "humanity" and "humanitarian" have behaviors and thoguht processes which are really rather warped and so ignorant on true situations it is absurd.
Unfortunately "Art" is being twisted into too many perverse definitions. If things such as this were to be allowed, it opens the flood gates to even worse possibilities. Society generally labels killing/mutilating/torturing animals as juvenile delinquency.
Shedding light on the sad ending to hunting and sled dogs who no longer can do what the owners want them to do is a good thing. But honestly how dumb would someone have to be to believe that killing 2 puppies onstage is supposed to be a catalyst for change?
This guy is sick and should get help.
The fact that 120,000 Germans can even think about voting yes 'to guillotine a sheep on camera' leaves me feeling very worried about the German mentality.
Well said!
@CPT/USA - If I had dogs that were losing me money, I would also cull them. Better to cull them than to have no food for my family. Family comes first.
Back to puppies...seriously, why should I care? Dogs were at one stage helpers of humanity. Now they are kept to make people feel good about themselves. People give their pets shampooings and the finest food, then expect others to treat their pets like humans. They are not humans. They are pets kept for someone's vanity or need for friendship. The fewer pets there are, the more food available for me to eat.
Think I had better go walk the dog now!
If I saw this POS strangling puppies on stage (or anywhere else) he'd be lucky if I didn't strangle him. And I wouldn't need cable ties...
Please don't beat about the bush ,say what you mean.
-Dr. Demento
http://www.die-guillotine.com/
Please vote NEIN (no) and pass it on!