Guggenheim, Bowing to Animal-Rights Activists, Pulls Works From Show [View all]

[Coventina]

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.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/arts/design/guggenheim-dog-fighting-exhibit.html?emc=edit_tnt_20170926&nlid=73531149&tntemail0=y&_r=0

I'm with the animal rights activists on this one, despite being an Art Historian. "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other" clearly depicts dogs that have been used in dog-fighting. It is obvious by their scarring.

"Theater of the World" just seems like a horrible idea in general. I've spent years volunteering in museums, and the consequences of something going wrong with that piece could be pretty dire.

"A Case Study of Transference" I don't really care one way or the other about. But a definite "no" on the first two.

What was the Guggenheim thinking?