Marco Evaristti’s “art” titled “And Now You Care?” at an art exhibition in Copenhagen consisted of three live piglets confined by two shopping carts on a pile of straw. The artist announced that the animals would be given water but no food until they died. Allowing the piglets to starve to death while on public exhibition was, you see, a powerful commentary on animal cruelty in Denmark, one of the world’s largest pork exporters. Evaristti explained yesterday that he aimed to “wake up the Danish society,” which is insufficiently concerned that tens of thousands of pigs die each day in Denmark because of poor conditions.
Oh, good plan.
Now do child neglect.
The exhibition was set inside a former butcher’s warehouse in the Meatpacking District of Copenhagen. Large paintings of the Danish flag and slaughtered pigs hung on the walls around the doomed little pigs. “Mona Lisa” this wasn’t.
The pigs were expected to live up to five days, but Evaristti said he also would not eat or drink along with them. That makes starving the helpless animals better, apparently. But as the exhibition space was being cleaned—it looked like a pig sty!— over the weekend, members of a Danish animal rights organization stole the piglets. Evaristti, says he does not expect his art to be returned.
Good.
Ethics Alarms 
I stopped going to museums when I saw a piece that consisted of three nails hammered into a block of wood. It was on afloor surrounded by glass shards. Never comprehended its meaning.
So my art appreciations is focused on the works of the Renaiassance masters circa 13-14th c.) , and Impressionists of the latter part of the 19th century
I’ll see you 3 hammered nails into a block of wood, and raise you a cigarette butt. Just one. In the corner. On the floor. With a plaque with the artist’s name on it.
That moving and important piece of work can be found at the Walker Art Center. Did I mention the Walker is in Minneapolis?
I wonder if it was funded by a grant from the NEA
“I’ll see you 3 hammered nails into a block of wood, and raise you a cigarette butt. Just one. In the corner. On the floor. With a plaque with the artist’s name on it.”
Call…
PWS
Ha!
You nailed it, Paul!!
For anyone who detests the NYT, HERE’S a different link.
PWS
ERRATUM: HERE’S
PWS
“…which is insufficiently concerned that tens of thousands of pigs die each day in Denmark because of poor conditions.”
Tens of thousands? Every day? I’ll bet you a years salary and my left testicle that isn’t true.
(and because I don’t bet my jewels lightly, I Googled: It’s closer to 9,000 a year. What’s being off by like… three orders of magnitude between friends?)
Artistic license!
they let that much profit evaporate? Methinks they still make money off this and. That statistics is pigshit
I think that the piglet rescue was part of the artist’s plan. If it wasn’t, it should have been. He got more attention because of it. The piglets were saved. He got to end his exhibition fast. Win-win-win.