Today there is some news regarding art that i think sparks an important conversation. Recently, artist Damien Hirst did an installation that lasted 23 weeks, and consisted of thousands of butterflys being contained in two windowless rooms.
The idea is beautiful, and i'm sure that it was a magnificent thing to witness.. but theres a bigger issue here. Over 9,000 butterflies died during this installation, for reasons including not adapting to the artificial environment, and being stepped on. Of course, animal activists are upset about this.
It turns out that this artist is no stranger to this sort of controversy.. he's done some pretty unsettling things like putting a shark is a tank of formaldehyde, as well as a cows head.
I think this is a discussion that needs to be had, at what point does harming something for art become unacceptable? To me, this artist is a little over the line, but for other installations that I've seen it's been okay. What do you guys think?
** warning. If you don't want to see a cows head thats been chopped off, don't watch the video that's embedded in the article.***
Here is the article : http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/damien-hirst-art-show-killed-9-000-butterflies-211840872.html
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