*****PLEASE SIGN PETITION - This man must be stopped *****

[tearinghairout]

Last year a South American artist, 'Habbakkuk' Guillermo Vargas, took a stray dog, tied it up in an art gallery and let it starve to death, as Art.

Incredibly, he has been invited to repeat this atrocity at the prestigious Visual Arts Bienniale of Central America in 2008.
Please sign the petition here

As proof that this isn't a wind-up, here is a page from the art gallery

Imo this de-humanises himself, the promoters and the puzzled onlookers.

Very sorry to do this, but I couldn't pass it by... also can't help but wonder what he'll do for his next trick?

If you want to google him, his surname seems to be Vargas, and Habakkuk or Habacuc in Spanish is a nickname.

oh cruel!

have signed

what about that girlin the US doing abortion as art-impregnating using donor sperm and then inducing chemical abortion.
plenty say just a lie stunt but still plenty of conviction that she did it.
I know art is subjective but these two cases are hideous

i think he should be tied up in a corner in the nameof 'art'

signed

Here is an old thread

I think the conclusion was that it was undecided as to the authenticity of this claim...

Undecided? Why ask him to do it again, then?The pictures clearly show that the dog is severely malnourished, and the info says that the dog died the day after the gallery pictures were taken.

In any case, please sign the petition and contact anyone you can think of to stop this person repeating this.

Here is the link to the Snopes verdict on the truth of the story that Nagapie was referring to.

www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/vargas.asp

Please read it before you make up your mind to sign the petition.

How horrible! Petition has been signed.

signed

so it's a hoax then

I understood that it was a performance piece based on the reaction of the audience. The artist put a street dog in a gallery with food nearby but out of reach.

The point was to see what the audience would do. The shocking thing was that people turned up and said "Oh how terrible and cruel etc", but no one took the food to the dog - which was what the artist was waiting for them to do.

It was a commentary on how we would rather be outraged than just act.

Now, the cruelty to the animal is undeniable, but any one of thousands of people were complicent in the act.

When I first heard about it I was outraged too, but now I think it has a deeper purpose.

The dog was never seen dead either - witnesses saying that after one day of exhibition it escaped see here

Well if this is true, it's truly horrible.
I am hoping it's a hoax but have signed the petition anyway...

The 'it escaped' and 'there was food there' allegations came a long time after the exhibit - there's no proof of either, and they seem to be reactions to the bad publicity. He wouldn't confirm it had died, but he didn't produce it afterwards either, living or dead. It looks in a pretty bad way to me.

When my Mum was small, children were always told that pets that had died/been given away had 'run away', and this surfaced recently near where I live - when a dog was run over the children were told it had run away.

It seems to me extremely unlikely that the dog escaped. It was tied up, presumably all the time the exhibition was open. In any case, this leaves an extremely bad taste in the mouth. There is enough uncertainty to justify the petition.

bump

he has been stopped - there was a FB group about it, and someone posted an update. it might not be true, i'm not sure, but i'll C+P it, hang on...

INCREDIBLE UPDATE!!! (4.23.08):
A group member just sent me this article from WSPA (world society for the protection of animals) and, if everything written is true, WE DID IT! Vargas WILL NOT be allowed to repeat his "installation" at the Biennial:

www.wspa-usa.org/pages/2341_no_excuses_for_cruelty.cfm?searchterm=guillermo_varn .
"No excuses for cruelty

In 2007, artist Guillermo Vargas showed an emaciated live dog in a Nicaraguan gallery. Despite public outcry, the country's lack of animal welfare laws meant he faced no consequences. This year, when Vargas was invited to compete in an art show in Honduras, WSPA and member society the Honduras Association for the Protection of Animals and their Environment (AHPRA) acted to ensure this cruelty could not be repeated by any artist.

Elly Hiby, WSPA's Head of Companion Animals, commented: ?Information regarding the treatment and fate of the dog used in the 2007 exhibition is inconsistent, but for WSPA ? irrespective of the exact outcome ? chaining a dog without food or water for public entertainment is a reprehensible abuse?. Our attempts to discuss the matter with Vargas' representative were met with silence.

But images from the Nicaraguan gallery were not forgotten. When Vargas was invited to enter the VI Central American Visual Arts Biennale (to be held in Honduras this year), an independent internet petition against the artist and his work attracted over two million signatures. WSPA sought a meeting with Business Owners for Art (Empresarios por el Arte), one of the sponsors of the Honduras Biennale.

In the meeting, WSPA's representative gave sound welfare arguments against the work shown in Nicaragua and formally requested that the Honduras AHPRA be invited to observe the Biennale exhibition.

After pressure from WSPA, the Honduras AHPRA and the public, the Biennial organizers have agreed not only to make AHPRA official observers but also to include new competition rules that prohibit the abuse of animals.

While we are satisfied that no-one will be able to abuse animals in the name of art during this forthcoming exhibition, stronger laws need to be in place that prohibit animal cruelty. WSPA and member society UCC are currently supporting a campaign, led by the Commission for Natural Resources and Environment of the Nicaraguan Assembly, calling for legislation to protect animals in Nicaragua.

You too can support the protection of animals worldwide by signing the Animals Matter to Me petition. This calls for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, an internationally accepted set of principles about the treatment of animals that would encourage countries to improve their legislation."

Congratulations everyone. YOU are the difference )

Nixie, thank you SO much. I can't tell you what this means to me and the friend who brought this to my attention. That poor little dog hasn't been out of my thoughts. I am so grateful for the update