What the **** is wrong with people?

[yardleybates]

Boycott the presence of Guillermo Vargas
'Habacuc' at the Bienal Cen...

In 2007,the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a
dog from the street, tied him to a rope in an art
gallery, and starved him to death.

For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors of the
exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful
'masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until
eventually he died.



Does it look like art to you?

But this is not all... the prestigious Visual Arts
Biennial of the Central American decided that the
'installation' was actually art, so that Guillermo
Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel
action for the biennial of 2008.

PLEASE HELP STOP HIM.

http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

It's free of charge, there is no need to register, and
it will only take 1 minute to save the life of an
innocent creature.

 

[rockyracoon]

I don't think I need to play that video. The accompanying text is more than enough to get the idea. Absolutely sickening and deplorable. If this so-called artist were killed in the same manner, I'd for sure watch the youtube of that. Shocking to me that no one stepped in and put an end to it. Actually, I guess it's not too shocking at all.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I don't think I need to play that video. The accompanying text is more than enough to get the idea.

Pretty much. These are the kinds of people that pretty much need death to come to them.

 

[Cheiron]

That is horrible =/

I don't get what people get out of torturing animals. And the fact that people stood by? Had I heard about it, and been able, I would have freed the dog, and beat the shit out of anybody trying to stop me.

 

[Claus / Intromental]

That is soo sickening and horrible!!!! That is just ... wow!!! :-(

Nevertheless, (and I am in no way trying to defend the person behind it), the "real art" here, and what I guess was the twisted and grotesque motif behind it all, would be the people who actually stood there and watched it. It is a clear example of what a sick world we live in, and although I can see a billion better ways to express it, I'm guessing that was what the "artist" was trying to show.

Damn, how sad and cruel.

c.

 

[Jibrille]

Just watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet. It's sickening how poorly many people "take care of" their pets.

I signed the petition. As an aspiring artist I see absolutely no art involved in this. Horrible social experiment, yes, but anyone calling this art is off their rocker.

 

[BlackRoseMetalHeart]

This guy ranks up there higher than that moron who put shit in jars on a shelf and called it art.

While I agree with the general consensus on this thread - that this guy is a demented twist sicko and the association putting him up to repeat his offense is deplorable joke, if only for that suggestion - let's also remember that this guy (I don't dare call him an artist) and the association are from Central America, where the culture and laws are different than here in America. I don't know if there even are laws against animal cruelty there. (Does anyone here know?)

I hope no one will take what I intended to say her out of context, but that area of the world is not the most "well-off." Many of the countries there are still considered "third-world" or close to it and, generally speaking, their respect for domesticated animals is probably not as strong/sensitive as those of Americans or even Europeans. If someone told me that the practice of eating domesticated animals such as dogs was still something going on there, it wouldn't surprise me. (Hey, when your starving and that's all the meat that's available ...)

I've heard that wild dogs such as this one that was taken off the street run ramped in the cities of some of those less well-off countries. So for the people living there, killing one of those dogs might be considered more on the same level as someone killing a deer in this country. Yes, this particular style of killing is still cruel, non-the-less, but there may be so many of these wild dogs running the streets that most folks there may not see this as a big deal. Personally, I'm all for people hunting deer for meat/food and even for sport (since they are incredible over-populated in my area of the US), but I wouldn't condone the torture of a deer purely for the sake of the advancement of someone's "profession" as an "artist." I'm probably not phrasing all this as best as I could, but hopefully you get the point of what I'm trying to say.

I signed the petition. I'm against the continuation of this asshole and his cruelty to animals. I just thought I'd bring up some perspective from the other side of this argument which I don't see many people (on this forum or in those petition signatures) taking into account.

 

[Cheiron]

"You can judge a society by the way it treats its animals" - (Ghandi?? not sure who really said this. .sometimes referenced to Ghandi. Sometimes to others))

 

[AngraRULES]

I honestly hope he dies.

That's sickening. Bastard. I'm so pissed off at this it's not even funny.

 

[Magius]

I don't think I need to play that video. The accompanying text is more than enough to get the idea. Absolutely sickening and deplorable. If this so-called artist were killed in the same manner, I'd for sure watch the youtube of that. Shocking to me that no one stepped in and put an end to it. Actually, I guess it's not too shocking at all.

Agreed on all counts.

 

[Hal9000]

This son of a bitch needs to be executed! I hope he and any illegitimate demon spawn he may have, get cancer. Slow painful cancer. I hope his mother dies of AIDS, or she could drunk drive into a telephone pole, either one.

 

[MysticX9]

Too many sociopaths in this world! Egregious.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

[insert great post here][/I]

Thanks for playing the Devil's Advocate. You're right that the fact is simply that other places have different social norms, or at least things that are tolerated even if not openly accepted. It's still pretty disgusting, but the other perspective you and Claus have offered are great points.

 

[DarkOne]

Imagine the artistic irony, the sheer brilliance and defiant avant garde approach to art if we took that same artist, tied him to a rope in an art gallery in front of his dog video, and starved him to death. Genius!

Steve in Philly

 

[Kenneth R.]

There was a movie with a similar premise to this. The first victim was a cat that died much the same way. This isn't art. Any art gallery that supports this kind of action might want to reconsider before they lose all credibility as a house for creative works of value.

To the people whose reactions were "we should kill him for this!"... you sound about as absurd, frivolous, and lost as the ironic artist himself.

 

[Kaosaur]

I want to protest against people who believe absolutely every outlandish story they read about and decide to take action without going to find out the facts themselves.

Here's the skinny on what happened, from Wikipedia:

"In 2007 Guillermo Vargas took a stray dog from the streets of Managua, Nicaragua, and tied it to a short leash in an art gallery, titling his exhibit "Eres Lo Que Lees" ("You Are What You Read"). Photographs appeared on the Internet showing a emaciated dog, tied to a wall by a length of rope in a room full of standing people, with the title of the exhibit written on the wall in dog food. The outrage triggered by the exhibit spawned allegations that the dog had been left to starve to death; these allegations quickly spread internationally via blogs, e-mails, and other unconfirmed sources. However, other than a three-hour period during which the dog was on display as part of Vargas' exhibit, the gallery alleges the dog was not tied up, and was fed with food brought in by Vargas himself.[2] There are no indications in the photos of where or when they were taken, nor of who took them. Juanita Bermúdez, the director of the Códice Gallery, was quoted in La Prensa[3] as saying that the animal was fed regularly and was only tied up for three hours on one day before it escaped.[4] Upon conducting a probe, the Humane Society was informed that the dog was in a state of starvation when it was captured and escaped after one day of captivity; the Humane Society also acknowledged, in reference to reports that the dog had been starved to death, "the facts [had] been misconstrued in some news articles"; however, the organization also categorically condemned "the use of live animals in exhibits such as this." [5]

This matter was brought to the attention of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), who investigated the issue found it had enough merit to take action, and are satisfied that no animals will be abused during the upcoming Biennial exhibition.[6]"

Seems he got exactly the reaction he wanted from you. :Smug::Smug::Smug:

 

[Dr_Metal]

Imagine the artistic irony, the sheer brilliance and defiant avant garde approach to art if we took that same artist, tied him to a rope in an art gallery in front of his dog video, and starved him to death. Genius!

Steve in Philly

Ya know.... I REALLY like that idea.... Son-ofa-bitch should suffer for his art.... Literally!!!!

 

[Yippee38]

I want to protest against people who believe absolutely every outlandish story they read about and decide to take action without going to find out the facts themselves.

I want to protest against people who believe absolutely everything (anything) that they read on wikipedia as absolute truth. The person who posted that info posted based upon one news story and ignored all of the others.

 

[sh0kr0k]

Thanks for playing the Devil's Advocate. You're right that the fact is simply that other places have different social norms, or at least things that are tolerated even if not openly accepted. It's still pretty disgusting, but the other perspective you and Claus have offered are great points.

I think we can all already understand that different cultures have different worldviews. In fact, this whole topic makes that pretty evident. Doesn't make it right or wrong, but it speaks volumes about the worth that a person/culture places on life of all kinds. It also speaks about the person's superiroity complex and a need to control inferiors to assert his position of dominance. It's animalistic really, no pun intended. All that said, I can't imagine a culture that, by and large, can look at something like this and think it is acceptable. My disgust for this is not because of my social upbringing or the cultural values of my country, and my neighbor could be guilty of the same thing. Torturing animals is a deplorable personal power-trip that is often considered a precursor to murder or mental disease.. regardless of the person's nationality. Besides, the people who "don't know better" on the streets of third-world countries are not the same people attending art exhibits :Smug:

This story makes me sick. Literally, physically sick. I can't count how many times I've seen it around the net. Each time, I want to react with such anger that I almost can't control myself. Issues like this are what make my blood boil to the point of violence. This f*$ktard probably has it in his head that "the true 'art' is the feeling invoked by the piece. The dog was not the art, but the reaction around the world is what I call success. If the suffering and humiliation of a little dog is the price to pay for people to become aware of the struggles of the world, then I'll do it again for the sake of all humanity to reach their inner realization of...." blah blah blah! Yes, there are people and animals starving all around the world, but at least they are free to go looking for food, not tied to a wall under a lamp. The fact that the dog was homeless and already starving does not make this any less wrong, because at the dog had a chance of living and had survived that long. There is no excuse for this. Not even hiding behind social standards, culture, or creative artistic expression will make this acceptable.

Edit: as I wrote this, other posts were made. I had wondered if this was a joke because it is just so awful, but it makes me react regardless. If the artist did not let the dog die, staged a few pictures, and wrote a story - biiiiig difference. Also a big difference if it was simply misconstrued on the net by someone else. BUT it still promotes the idea of animal suffering and I shutter to think about how many people will try to replicate this or think it's normal now.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Wishing ebola of the rectum to ALL this type of so called "artists" (Upside down cross in a jar of piss, anyone?) and animal abusers. It's one thing to harvest an animal for food, and another to torture via starvation.