Dying As Art?
Filed under: Wacky, Tacky & True
Artist Gregor Schneider has German politicians and art curators up in arms, according to reports.
He's been actively searching for a terminally ill person to feature in his new exhibit.
The volunteer would spend his/her dying hours in an art gallery so the public can 'admire' the way some light plays on the flesh of a person gasping for the last breath.
Just like Abortion Girl's 'art' - we think that Schneider's death exhibit is just plain WRONG!!
An influential German gallery owner Beatrix Kalwa spoke for many German curators who rule out the idea of giving space to Schneider’s exhibit.
She says, “Existential matters like death, birth or the act of reproduction do not belong in a museum. There is a fundamental difference between portraying these acts in an art form, and showing them in actuality.”
Well, we would be okay with seeing people having sex in a museum!
[Image via timesonline.co.uk.]
Re: manders – OVER 2 MILLION PEOPLE have signed the petition to boycott him because he wants to do it again!!!
I would like to see an installation that shows an anorexic woman sitting on the couch, writing down the calories she has (or hasn't) consumed that day over and over on sheets of paper.
Schneider is only doing this for the attention, like most every other "artist" out there. Abortion Girl got lots of attention for her "art work", and now this guy Schneider wants the same.
Also, is film making no longer an art? I guess Hollywood and all aspects of film making need to make up their minds over what exactly constitutes an art form, if there is one. Documentaries from war to AIDS have filmed people dying for decades. Schneider's attention-seeking project is nothing more than this. It would be nice for artists to do something original and creative in the millenium. So far, I haven't seen much of anything new, merely the same song on a different day. Yawn.
This reminds me of Richard Avedon. He photographed his father as he died.
It was considered some of his most personal work, and is definitely art.
I know someone who has witnessed someone dying, and said that it was something that everyone should be able to experience…it really puts things into perspective.
It's weird, but if the person's comfortable dying in an art gallery, more power to it!
It hurts to read something sick like this on the day that i saw my grandfather die from cancer!!!I saw him today taking his last breath……
The story of a dog being starved to death as part of an art exhibition appears to have been falsely reported by Costa Rican newspaper The Nation, according to new sources. I reported the appalling story here last week among global outrage about the exhibit and a reported invitation to repeat the work elsewhere.
It has now emerged, however, that artist Guillermo Habacuc Vargas intended the work to be a stunt to show how a starving dog suddenly becomes the centre of attention when it is in a gallery, but not when it is on the street. The work was intended to expose people for what they really are - "hyprocritical sheep". He said that in order for the work to be valid, he and the gallery had to give the impression that the dog was genuinely starving to death and that it died.
I guess they could call this "performance" art. Sick. Really sick. For those of us who have been at the bedsides of people who are about to die or have just died,
this idea would definitely not be labeled "fun".
Art? Art? A person dying is not art! I have worked in a hospital and have had terminal patients die. We tried to let them die in dignity. The last gasps are not art, but at times the body refusing to give up. I think anyone that would sit around and watch a person die like that needs help. Maybe the artist can volunteer himself to be the subject. We hear about all these 'art projects' and I think that these 'artists' are just trying to get attention without doing anything physical themselves (as in sculpting, dancing, painting,etc.).
Totally diggin' the sex as a museum exhibit…….that is sooooo all GOOD! Death and birth. Nope. Not so much.
No - not everyone should experience watching someone die. When you love someone watching them die is a very depressing and stressful event. I watched my Aunt die, she had a stroke, too much bleeding on the brain, they took out her oxygen and she basically gasped for breath for the next 30min until she died, and some people tell me that can go on for days.
Now if my husband or mother were to die, I'd stay with them so they would not be alone on their way out of this world, but don't go thinking this is a fabulous experience, nothing is fabulous about dying for the people left behind.
i hope the story about the god starving was a fake
:(
poor thing
this looks like an old version of spencer pratt from the hills.
WTF!?! I am so tired of seeing crap like this considered "art"… someone needs to pass some laws!
I think this guy has a valid idea and unlike Abortion Girl I think his project and idea has substance. I think it explores an interesting side of art that is rather avant-garde and beautiful in that he is exhibiting a person's final time on this earth for the world to see and show how beautiful all people are regardless of whether or not they are healthy or terminally ill and dying. I cannot wait to see his work and I think anyone who is terminally ill and willing to participate would leave an amazing impact not only in the world of art but the world all around us.
At least this involves a person who is willing to give his consent. If a terminally ill person wants to do this, then why not? Who are you to say were they should die?!!
hahaha DID YOU HEAR?? Abortion girl has to pull her art project unless she admits it's a big fake!!
Why don't you mention the petition of the dying dog in an art gallery. An "artist" had a stray dog in a gallery and watched it die. That is so fucked up!
That is fucking sick!
So much for someone dying with dignity. A terminally ill person should be with their family, not displayed in some fucking exhibit.
Fuck Gregor Schneider!
thats nasty.
art is beautiful.
real death is not.
A friend of mine almost died after a LEGAL abortion. This shit is not funny. Throw the twit out! She's glamorizing murder.
Yale should send her packing.—NOW!
Bahahaha! At first I thought that was Spencer Pratt with a really bad hair-do lol
perez what the heck! this not art ,this crap that people excuse it as art,art is beatuiful,art makes u think inspire u not this crap,cuz thats what it is crap n the people that think this is art r very sick ,sick people n thats what makes u think what is going on in there head scary
well….i cant say im not curious.
Unlike abortion girl everyone in the exhibit would be giving permission to participate. If thats how someone wants to go……who should stop them?
I dont think i could watch tho….
I have seen someone die before…and it is not something I ever want to see again…
its not something you forget that easily….
if you that is sick… check this out… this dude starved a dog to death in a gallery and called it "art". AND he is trying to do it again this year. http://aspcacommunity.ning.com/group/stopping
This is not okay with anyone who knows someone close to them who has died. Clearly this artist doesn't understand that no one will actually be okay with his idea for art. He's exploiting some person's poor death, their family and friends' grief, so that he can make some money and become famous. Sad, really.
Can't he at the very most video tape it and present it? I don't think a dying person needs to be around thousands of people, plus, you can't be sure when a terminally ill patient will die, so, videotape would get to the most viewers no doubt but whatever, these "artists" get dumber and DUMBER
eww looks like spencer pratt
This man is a disgusting, fucking bastard and I hope he dies in hell. He thinks it's "art" and admirable to look at someone struggle in pain in their last breath? Can you even imagine what that terminally ill patient is feeling? They are very ill, they are not stupid. They have a conscience, and they can feel, and they can sense. Is this fucking asshole trying to make a spectacle out of this?
I just watched both my grandmother (who had alzheimers) and my father (who had cancer) take their last breaths in July and December of last year. There is NOTHING artistic about it! Especially that of a person suffering from a terminal disease. It is devistating and heart breaking. While you are happy the person is no longer suffering, it doesn't fix the fact that they are gone.
I could almost understand an artist saying they were going to record a photographic journal of the changes someone undergoes when dying from a terminal illness - but actually setting up an exhibit for people to just sit around and watch the person die is wrong and has no value to art!
Why do you post things like this on a CELEBRITY GOSSIP website? Can it be, are you actually running out of celebrty gossip and have to resort to posting this crap? If I wanted to hear about random crap people doing random crap things I'll watch fox news, thank you very much.
Go back to what you do best. Just post about celebrities please.
Awful & ridiculas!!!! My step dad is in the hospital right now, I just got back from visiting him about an hour ago. He's not doing well at all & although we didn't always get along when I was growing up it's terrible watching him go through all this pain. I can't understand how that is in any way art. Or why someone would volunterrally (SP?) watch that. Really I don't get it?
I think that this is very different than abortion girl. While her "subjects" are firstly not proven, but secondly unwilling participants it is unethical. However if a willing adult would like to make their dying process available for those who wish to see it, there should not be a problem. The tackiness of it may be in question but that would be for those who see it to decide. I think our culture has a problem with confronting the realism of death and that someone is bringing attention to a terminally ill person in a way is elightening. We don't like to think we die and care to think even less of the process it entails. Is it art? I don't know. That is too individual.
is it just me, or does this guy remind you of an older spencer pratt?!
i'm a nurse who works on a floor that has a lot of terminally ill patients..and from personal experience, this is not something that belongs in a museum. It can be a very peaceful experience for patients and families, but it can also be very painful and very personal..I think it's something better kept private if possible
yeah you would love sex in museums perez,
i bet you wanna make a rim job train exhibit. staring the jonas brothers and zaquisha
that is disgusting. fucking disgusting. art is essentially for entertainment purposes. you know, something to think about, something to stare at, something to talk about. so watching people die is entertaining? fucking sick. that 'abortion' chick and this 'watching people die' buddy should get together and kill each other or something. now THAT is art. 2 useless idiots, 2 less humans on this earth polluting it.
I think that's pretty awesome actually.
And the broader implications of this "art" will be to make life's most intimate moments common place, encouraging each of us to grow callous toward the emotions and struggles of others, to lose our natural sympathies, in effect, to lose the very connections that make humans different from other animals. And when a 12 year old kid wants to tie a dog up and watch him die, he will defend himself based on this new form of "art." And when a hospice nurse video tapes a grandmother's dying breath, and posts it online for the enjoyment of all, he will defend himself based on this new form of "art." This is not art, but is a degradation, a debasement of conscience.
I don't see anything wrong with this. It would only be unethical if he injected someone with the cancer virus or something, but he's looking for someone who is already sick. Honestly, if I was passing from an illness I would really appreciate someone considering my last moments of life as something beautiful. Especially when illness takes away so much from one's physical appearance. I think it may be a comfort to the volunteer to go down in history and be appreciated.
sick sick sick, he needs to be locked away!!
censorship is NEVER ok, even if it's something that you don't agree with. Yr a hypocrite Perez. You fight for your right for free speech and yet you promote censorship against others. Grow up.
omg…i cannot believe that these so called artists are trying (and some succeding) to put things like death, abortion, and cruelty to animals in museums. these people are truly mentally ill and need to spend some time in a psych ward. ugh…it disgusts me!!!
Perez-
I enjoy and encourage your new fascination with the visual arts, but why do you always pick the crazy, sensational stories about artists! We need a balance here. You promote music you like, how about some of the visual artists that excite you too. I am sure there are some. You know I have you bookmarked and I love gossip just like the next person, but as a visual artist, I beg you to enlighten your readers with at least some of the positive, amazing, beauty that is accessible to them in the form of art.
You know art gets the short end of the stick in schools, so do your part to help create a more cultured society by not only letting us know of the crazy whack stuff that is out there, but also of the haunting beauty that is available as well.
You are simply playing into their ( the headline grabbing artists) hands and I know you are smarter than that…
Thanks! Megan Chapman ( visual artist) www.meganchapman.com
THIS IS JUST LIKE the art exhibit with the starving dog. What sick people out there.
What the fuck is up with these people? Period chick thiefs her idea from "shit art" dude and now this retard is stealing Guillermo Habacuc Vargas' ideas. Back in October (2007) Guillermo got a couple of kids to kidnap a dog and payed them, then he put it in his art exhibit and starved it. He made thedisplay signs for the art project out of dog biscuits. These artist are fucking idea thiefs.
Re: alex c – Dude, I sent him the same thing. At least this "artist" wants a person who is already dying to put on exhibit. It's SO fucked up to kill an innocent animal. Perez should really advertise the petition!
WOW. Whatever happened to creative artists that used NORMAL media to get their message across? People used to think making dresses out of meat or condoms was controversial. Not anymore! Now there are "artists" using abortion, death and animal abuse to get their message out there? Come on people!!!
omg lmao!!:D
Yeah, what about that dog? Or is it another Bonsai Kitten hoax?
he looks like spencer pratt
Re: HELEN – you probably are the abortion girl. go to hell.
wtf is spencer pratt doing now
what the fuck is wrong with this person. that is sick and discusting. if anyone went to go watch someone struggling for there life i am not sure what i would do. it makes me want to be sick.,
i hope this fucking asshole dies .
cunt
if that's the way someone wants to die, why not let them? it might make their final moments easier to know that they're taking part in art and beauty and history.
There is something to be said for Dying in Peace - hopefully no one comes forward to "help" his project… and I'm not buying his how light plays on the flesh - bullshit, he wants to film someone dying - It's called a snuff film asshole and it's illegal - Just because you're not doing the killing doesn't make it wrong….
Ulgh, what is WITH these people??
here's a thought… way doesn't his dumbass inject himself with the AIDS virus and then put himself on display… i' mean im sure he'd be a revolutionary or something -.-
this makes me sick. I had a family member die of a terminal illness and it is not something that should be put on exhibit for the world to see. It is personal and private and painful. He clearly has no heart and no experience with how difficult it is go to through a death like this. Get him shut down Perez!
This is terrible Perez. I'd love if you touched on the story out about last years starving dog "art" exibit, and hopefully protest this years schedualed as well. It happened in central america (i'm not sure exactly where abouts..) and an "artist" found a dog, chained him in an exibit, and starved him to death as art. Hundreds of spectators viewed and critiqued the poor thing and did absolutly nothing to stop his suffering. The government was notified but has no laws outlawing animal cruelty and so he plans to do this again this year! I think it'd be beneficial, if you used your website as a way to notify and inform people of this. Theres plenty of information and petitions online as well if you're interested in researching!! the "artists" name is Guillermo Vargas.
I thought of this after reading your post!
Jamie
I want to know what morbid bastard is going to see such an exhibit?
That's not art. That's abuse.
WTF???
there is really something very amazing about being with someone when they pass in a dignified and graceful way…it's akin to be there when a person is born. It can be a very moving and worthwhile experience.
Tell this weirdo to call John McCain………he's about 107.
i don't really have a problem with this. i also don't see any correlation between this piece and the abortion one either. a dog being starved to death cannot consent to take part in such torture, and the "children to be" could not either. in this case (although i wouldn't attend such an exhibit) the subject will sign a consent form and WANT to take part in this. perhaps this will fulfill some sort of last wish of the person… or perhaps they think their death in some way will make an impact (perhaps it will be cancer and the purpose is to exemplify the consequences of smoking?) i just think we should take a step back and look at this differently than abortion girl or dog man. no one is being tortured and the beauty here is in the eye of the beholder- whether you agree with it or not
I am really really tired of people bringing to life their sick fantasies and getting away with it because it is supposed "art." Starving a dog to death is not art. Aborting pregnancies is not art. Watching someone die is not art. These things are tragic and it takes a sick, twisted person to consider watching death an artform.
NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!! As one who has watched her mother's final breaths due to cancer, I can say that DYING is not ever ever ever something to be exploited. You can look at death and see the very face of god, but NOT in a museum.
Re: alex c –
people sicken me these days… dying as art? It's like this crazy guy from Honduras who let a dog starve to death as his exhibition…. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Artist-Leaves-Dog-To-Die-on-Exhibition-Display-82091.shtml
Re: ?? – Yes. I took a picture of her the day before she died to show people of what happens when you smoke, but when I changed phones I lost it.
And I know my mom would have been willing to model because minutes before she died, she looked at me and said "I'm so sorry."
you think the abortion girl and this guy are wrong? there is an artist who starves dogs for art. his name is guillermo vargas and it is just wrong!
this reminds me of something that was sent to me on facebook…not sure if it is true, but i wouldnt be surprised given the horrible photos, and the nature of this post. It is regarding someone who did the same thing, but with a poor stray starving dog. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND INHUMANE.
Please
How about he just uses himself?
what the fuck is wrong with people? first the dog thing. then the abortion girl. now this shit…
these people are disgusting. this isn't art!!!
Fek! What is it about the Germans?Don't they remember how World War 2 atrocities got them slightly out of favour with the rest of the world?
the person is a volunteer so i don't see whats so wrong with this. it's not like they are being exploited against their will or anything.
#42 - Tina Lee
Agreed!
This just shows lack of imagination. He doesnt have any talent, so he goes for shock-value.. Which is pathetic.
#105 - JP
I think there is a big difference in what Richard Avedon did and this. 1 because it was his own father. 2 he died with his family around him.
Is the person dying in an art-gallary going to have his/hers friends and family on display as well? So that theire sorrow also can be viewed as art?
I have seen my grandfather die of lung-cancer and yes in the moment when he died, it is something (for lack of a better word) "special". You can feel that there is a change in the room.
Its the most vunerable time in ones life, and it should be given as much respect as possible. Also it is not always as peaceful as one would wish. So if a person was to die on exibit, it may not turn out the way that person intended.
FUCK. CENSORSHIP.
THE GERMANS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CRUEL AND DEPRAVED ! SADISM IS PART OF THEIR D.N.A !
i”ll go. how much??
i agree exactly with the gallery owner.
not only is this sick and just wrong, it's bad art anyway
PEREZ pllllease. this site is not really the place for art discussions.
don't act like a curator or censor.
most the people who visit this site can barely read, they know nothing about contemporary art or the world outside the US.
go back to hollywood movies and broadway musicals, don't write about art anymore.
doesn't he kind of look like an old spencer pratt?
Perez and other readers who are so easily offended need to realize the world is not flat in the art world, unlike the grounded tabloid world.
if you dudes knew what u were talking about you'd know all that shits been done already.
is this some new phase??? have you heard about the "artist" Guillermo Vargas Habacuc that did the same thing with a dog - only he really did let the poor animal die - AND wants to do it again!!! there has been an online petition started in the hopes that it will bring enough attention to the "artist" and his work so as not to allow him to commit murder again! not that i'm a HUGE animal rights activist but GEEZ!!!
i guess it just comes down to "what is art?" i would throw this so-called art in the same category as soulja boy - crank that
AH, i hate being an artist right now. Art should evoke emotion, but it's also our responsibility to bring out the beauty in the world, not all the ugliness. Horror is everywhere, just turn on the fucking TV. People are so attention starved, they'll do just about anything for their 15 minutes.
SICKO!
I can proudly say this is a bunch of art bullshit.
Actually, on some level, I don't think this is wrong at all.
Abortion Girl - that was disgusting because it was forced.
This would be willing, terminally ill patients. Personally, I find it rather fascinating, and I'm not morbid in the slightest, but there would be something artistic about the exibition.
at least his "art" isn't hurting anybody but himself… Abortion girl KILLED countless innocent babies!!!!! and I think she should be arrested!!!!
HE LOOKS LIKE SPENCER PRATT!!!!!!!!!!
you people are so alienated from birth and and death. you think everybody should die alone. in the old times death was a natural thing, people died surrounded by their family around their death bed.
but americans alienated them self from their body - sex, death, birth are tabus in your pathetic society.
it is always interesting when illiterate weapon maniacs try to speak about art.
so it's not okay to have dying humans for an art exhibition but it's okay to take dogs and starve them and watch them die for an art exhibition… some people are just sick and the ones that go and see that are even sicker!!!!
#201 - kyle
I think death is the most natural thing in the world, but at the same time it is also something highly personal. I dont think anyone should die alone. However dying on display may be just as lonely. As to your "american" statements Ill leave it up to them to debate. Im Norwegian.
#202 - Erika
I heard that the dog "exibit" was a hoax. The artist was trying to see the reactions of the people coming there.. I dont know for sure, but I hope that is all a sick joke.. I mean..Who would watch something like that and not do something!?!
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.ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?? I'M 22 YEARS OLD AND WATCHED MY DAD TAKE HIS LAST BREATH IN FRONT OF ME JUNE 3 2007 AND HE DIED OF CANCER AND ACTUALLY SAID SORRY FOR LEAVING US. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? IT IS THE MOST HORRIFIC THING I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE AND NOTHING LIKE YOU WOULD EXPECT AND FOR SOMEONE TO CALL THIS "ART" SHOULD BE FUCKING KILLED THEMSELVES. THIS IS WHAT ANGERS ME THAT SOMEONE SO WONDERFUL LIKE MY DAD DIED AFTER FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE FOR 5 YEARS AND THEN YOU HAVE FUCKING SICK MOTHER FUCKERS LIKE THIS. THEY SHOULD BE THE ONES TO DIE NOT GOOD PEOPLE.
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im sorry, but i have to disagree with you, perez! if that person chooses to have people watch them die, let them! it's their last wish! but also, it could perhaps ease people's minds about the mystery of death.