Guggenheim Museum pulls exhibits accused of animal abuse

CAIRO – 28 September 2017: The Guggenheim Museum in New York City has pulled down three works from an anticipated exhibition, following a wave of protests over the “cruel” treatment of the animals in art.

Statement—Due to safety concerns, the Guggenheim has decided against showing three art works in upcoming exhibition. https://t.co/vLnSOzLydB

— Guggenheim Museum (@Guggenheim) September 26, 2017

The works were part of an exhibition titled "Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World," and is slated to open on October 6. The works in the exhibit were created between 1993 and 2003, and are designed to represent oppression in China. The works proved to be controversial for a different reason, however, with the usage of live animals having been slammed as outright abuse.

I hope some key @Guggenheim donors will rethink their support after this. Animal abuse is not "art." So ignorant. https://t.co/UZrjAq6wpv

— Richard Marx (@richardmarx) September 22, 2017

One of the works, titled "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other," is a video that features four pairs of pitbulls on treadmills attempting to viciously attack each other while being unable to. Another piece, "Theatre of the World," has various live insects, snakes, lizards and spiders inside a dome, where visitors can watch them kill and eat each other, with some dying of exhaustion.

"A Case Study of Transference" is a video that features two pigs mating, tattooed with letters in gibberish. An online petition on change.org amassed well over 500,000 signatures calling for the museum to pull down the works and to opt for “cruelty free-exhibits.”

The museum took down the works after issuing a statement that declared their concern over "explicit and repeated threats of violence."

Please raise your voice against this Exhibition of Justification for Sadism &Cruelty guised as ART @Guggenheim. Animal Abuse is NOT Art !!

— Liau Chungshiu (@LiauChungshiu) September 25, 2017