Posted on 12/13/2007 9:38:37 PM PST by camerakid400
LONDON - An artist is inviting Londoners to come face-to-face with the wretched labour of one of India's lowest castes - by filling an art gallery with 21 big blocks of human excrement.
The monoliths are the brainchild of Santiago Sierra, whose previous work includes pumping a former German synagogue full of poisonous car exhaust (visitors wore gas masks) and an attempt to write the word "Submission" in giant, flaming letters near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Elena Crippa, curator at the Lisson Gallery where the work is being displayed, said the Spanish-born artist's intention is to confront audiences with the horror of the scavengers, the so-called untouchables who have traditionally cleaned private toilets and outhouses in India.
The human waste used in the exhibit was gathered from the Indian cities of Delhi and Jaipur by volunteers working for Sulabh International, a human rights organization devoted to helping improve the lives of scavengers.
The muck was left to sit for three years before being mixed with plastic, moulded into man-sized blocks and shipped to Britain, by which point, Crippa said, it was the sanitary equivalent of dirt.
Sierra's work often seems tailor-made to incite disgust or outrage. Past stunts include spraying workers with toxic polyurethane foam or paying drug-addicted prostitutes for the right to tattoo lines on their backs.
catalogue distributed by the gallery suggested the slabs of excrement were meant to shock by bringing the scavengers' work "too close for comfort."
"As long as exploitation remains on the other side of the glass, we can quietly rest our heads on our pillows, clutching a fair trade chocolate bar in our fist," it said.
Art from excrement has a long pedigree. In 1961, Italian Piero Manzoni produced 90 cans of "Artist's (Poo)," each labelled as containing one ounce of "freshly preserved" material. In 1999, British artist Chris Ofili's rendition of the Virgin Mary on a canvas spattered with elephant dung brought protest when it went on display with other sensational works at The Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York.
Sierra's work is on a different scale. His 21 dark, crackled (and odourless) monuments are lined up like headstones. Although their power seems muted in the gallery's harsh white space, visitors interviewed still seemed impressed, if not exactly shocked, by his choice of material.
"I don't think it's the shock factor - that's not what this is about," said Claire Poulter, a 19-year-old art student from London. "It's about the fact that it was human made in both senses of the word."
London's Evening Standard was unimpressed by Sierra's fecal moulds, saying his work was beginning to lose its ability to shock.
"Remove the human element and not only does his work not pack a punch, it's also losing its ability to surprise: increasingly, viewers are confronted by a case of diminishing returns," the newspaper said.
Yeah. Humanity is evolving. Right. (sarc)
Oh how lovely! Plug your noses kids and remember, DO NOT TOUCH!
It’s the shiznit!
The anything goes leftists will eat that right up.
Just.... eewww-ww-ww-www.
Is there a Creativity Is Dead ping list?
How about a shocking ‘you’re out of grant money’ memo on display?
You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck cleaning the outhouse.
I guess my idea of art is just not this. To me this is just ewwwwwwwwwww!
You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck cleaning the outhouse.lol... you realize we're talking about INDIA right?
How will the “artists” outdo this in order to bilk more money from the suckers?
>>the Spanish-born artist’s intention is to confront audiences with the horror of the scavengers, the so-called untouchables who have traditionally cleaned private toilets and outhouses in India.<<
It would appear to me that the “artist” is barking up the wrong tree... take his poop show and try to change the caste system in INDIA - WHERE IT’S PRACTICED.
And how will he compete with 7 billion other people who also make flushable art?
catalogue distributed by the gallery suggested the slabs of excrement were meant to shock by bringing the scavengers’ work “too close for comfort.”
I’ve always said modern “art” is pretty sh*tty.
Proves me right.
But in this case, says as much about the “artist” as the “art”.
Why not Kangaroo spit? Why not dandruff? This guy has less imagination than my little toe.
Hope he gets flushed, along with his “work”.
[... ”TURD WORLD ECONOMY”...]
LOL! You should get a prize for that one.
What a pile of crap!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.