Following public outcry, Guggenheim withdraws ‘fighting’ pit bulls installation
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Photo by Jean-Christophe BENOIST, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license
NEW YORK – Following an avalanche of protest, the Guggenheim Museum has removed three “artworks” by Chinese conceptual artists, each involving live animals. One of the them, titled “Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other,” features a 7-minute video of eight exhausted pit bulls trying to attack each other on non-motorized treadmills. According to the ASPCA, this type of treadmill regimen is used by dog fighters to encourage aggression in canines.
The other withdrawn works include a video titled “A Case Study of Transference,” showing two pigs being tattooed with text and mating before a live audience, and “Theater of the World,” in which reptiles are encased with, and eat, live insects.
The museum said the works were withdrawn after protests, “out of concern for the safety of its staff, visitors and participating artists.” Last week the museum said it planned to go through with the exhibition even though “the work may be upsetting” to some.
More than 625,000 people have signed an online petition opposing the exhibition.
Read more from The New York Times, Artnet and Fox News.
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