http://www.ktvu.com/news/15778575/detail.html?taf=fran
This is an interesting story regarding Adel Abdessemed's "Don't Trust Me" exhibit at the San Francisco Art Institute that was recently shutdown "in the wake of violent threats."
Some questions that came to my mind as I read/watched the story:
Is the origin of an image relevant to its significance?
Is the repetition of the images meant to desensitize the viewer and ultimately bring the viewer "beyond good and evil"? If so, is it to propagate the phenomenon as necessary and natural, or is it to make the viewer question that phenomenon?
Where does art end and life begin?
Why do the people in the video (and the critics of the exhibit) tend to talk about art and its boundaries instead of life and its boundaries? Instead of art, why can't we talk about slaughterhouses, inhumane butchering, unjust wars, and bureaucracy-induced alienation?
Can death itself even be conceptualized, or is it in reality a simple lack thereof?
How are death and justice related?
Is there such a thing as a truly "untimely death"?
Abdessemed's exhibit strikes me as decadent, but in its decadence it, I hope, is struggling to create discussion regarding a general attitude and understanding about death and its many manifestations. People who eat meat do so (by and large) without noting and grasping that what they're eating is a murdered animal. People endorse a war that is clearly causing more death, but somehow that kind of death is acceptable. I don't wholeheartedly endorse Abdessemed's work, but this country (or perhaps just the people controlling the media) is severely confused, and I know censorship won't solve it.
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4 comments:
i don't know why activists for animal rights (peta i believe was mentioned) would attack someone documenting animal cruelty and showing it to the public. these groups do that same documenting themselves (Meet Your Meat). it's never bad to understand exactly what's going on (i.e. see where the meat you consume comes from). what's horrible is how unnecessary mass production of this meat continues. i think the activists are misguided in their protests. and i'm not saying images of killing animals is beautiful art but it could be seen as forcing some kind of societal conscience to kick in.
i second you on that, dave. when i found this article yesterday morning, i couldn't believe that the people who make animal slaughter video footage their business had a beef against an aesthete who's bringing the same footage to the attention of the public. i thought organizations like ALF and PETA yearn for that kind of press and that kind of reaction to animal slaughter.
on another note, i've been trying to find an interview with the artist to hear his thoughts on the subject, but no luck yet. if you find one, post it!
Jess, I hope when you wrote "business had a beef against" you meant that pun.
tyler, i meant that pun with a fury.
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