Starving a dog for "art" - Sign the petition!

[binka_nugget]

http://guillermohabacucvargas.blogspot.com/

In 2007, Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, a so called artist, took an abandoned dog from the streets, tied him to a very short rope to a wall in an art gallery, and left a kettle of food on the other side of the room, beyond his reach, and left him there to slowly die of hunger and thirst.

The so-called artist of such cruelty and the visitors of the gallery of art watched the agony of this animal. The dog finally died of famine, surely after a painful, absurd and incomprehensible torture.

The prestigious Centralamerican Biennial of Art decided that this horrible act committed by this guy was art, and Guillermo Vargas Habacuc has been invited to repeat his cruel actions in 2008.



This story is from Costa Rica and is just stunning in it’s cruelty and depravity.

A Costa Rican artist found himself in hot water with the animal protection people in his home country after using a starving, sick street dog as part of an exposition in Managua, Nicaragua, in August. Guillermo “Habacuc” Vargas allegedly found the dog tied up on a street corner in a poor Nicaragua barrio and brought it to the showing. He tied the dog, according to furious animal lovers, in a corner of the salon where it died after a day.

Habacuc’s exhibition included a legend spelled out in dog food reading “You are what you read,” photos and an incense burner that burned an ounce of marijauna and 175 “rock’ of crack cocaine. In the background, according to reports, the Sandista national anthem played backwards. According to the artist, his “art” was a tribute to Natividad Canda, a Nicaraguan burglar killed in Costa Rica by two rottweilers guarding property he had entered at night. The incident caused friction between the two countries.

Habacuc told the daily La Nacion, “I won’t say the dog died. The importance to me is the hypocricy of the people where an animal is the focus of attention where people come to see art but not when it’s in the street starving to death.” “The same thing happened with poor Natividad Canda. The people sympathized with him only after he was dead,” the artist added. The artist apparently is unaware that at least three large, active organizations are dedicated in Costa Rica to the protection of animals and that several persons have been prosecuted for cruelty to animals. They are hampered in their efforts by the old Hispanic customs of disregard for animal welfare and by a lack of funding. (Costa Rica Blogs)

An explanation/translation of the petition here:
http://petloverstips.com/ForTheLoveoftheDog/news-updates/a-dead-dog-as-art-petition


You can sign the petition here to stop it from happening again:
http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/petition.html
More about the petition:
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/675045


Photos here:
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2655595_6686.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2655596_6878.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2649329_4725.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2649330_4937.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v189/201/52/619540453/n619540453_2637732_8484.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2655593_6291.jpg

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v196/236/84/818835392/n818835392_2655594_6501.jpg

[Husky_mom]

signed!...

I can´t believe NOT ONE of the "attendants" took the dog..... I hate that kind of people..... makes me wanna do "art" with them..

[lizbud]

This guy could also be stopped by a .45 to the side of his head. I would
be happy to hire someone to do it. :mad:

[slick]

Ash: Please, I think you should put a "graphic picture warning" on this thread. I'm sick to my stomach.

I want to sign but don't know what to put in the last field.
1 is name
2 is email address
3 is location (I think)
4 is ??????:confused:

[K9soul]

I want to sign but don't know what to put in the last field.
1 is name
2 is email address
3 is location (I think)
4 is ??????:confused:

I think 3 is state/province/territory etc. and 4 is country.

I had heard about this but the pictures absolutely just break my heart. I have no words.

[Catty1]

As of 10:23 pm MT - 1,995,101 signatures!

[sumbirdy]

I can't figure out how to sign it. :confused: I go to sign the petition, see other people's comments but I don't see anywhere to sign it myself

[kittycats_delight]

1 995 902 Signatures Total as of 4:09 am EST

[jackie]

The first photo of people milling around the poor dog makes me so angry. How could anyone turn a blind eye to that poor little dog.

I signed the petition and am number 2005537. I only wish it could have been done before that animal had to suffer.

[cyber-sibes]

OMG, that is sooooo sick. This is really upsetting. How could people allow this a$$hole to do this IN PUBLIC in an art gallery????? And NO ONE stepped in? I would have freaked out & not left that gallery without that dog if I had seen this, as I'm sure everyone else on this board would also do.

If this jerk's point is that people are apathetic, he sure made it. Very sad that poor dog suffered so this bum could make a political/social statement under so-called artistic freedom.

He should be tied & slowly starved in front of gallery patrons & art critics as as a "performance art" piece.

[Kirsten]

I read about this in another forum, and I have now words to describe how disgusted I am about this cruel act. I can't believe people passing by and do nothing.

I signed the petition, and I wonder if anyone has informed PETA about this. They should be aware of it.

Kirsten

[lizbud]

I signed the petition, and I wonder if anyone has informed PETA about this. They should be aware of it.

Kirsten


Kirsten, the animal rights organizations already know about this.

A petition was gathered & signed in 2007 & a new one is being gathered
for 2008 to protest him doing a repeat of the actions this year. They had
a petition in English & Spanish.

http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/petition.html

[lizbud]

I want to ask the OP of this thread to please remove the images from
this thread. The link is sufficent to explain this horror. I am willing to post
my thoughts & opinions, but cannot bear to see them over & over again. :(

[cassiesmom]

(sick to my stomach) This is not art. This is sanctioned cruelty to an animal. I'd like to tie up and slowly starve this person. I can't even refer to him as an artist because there are a few people on Pet Talk, photographers, whose pictures are spectacular. That is art.

[gini]

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/navitidad.htm

I have been upset about this since someone told me about the thread. I just could not believe anyone would allow this to happen.

I cannot bring myself to look at the pictures - the mental image is enough for me!

I have gone searching the internet to see if the story is true. Above is the link to Truth or Fiction about this story.

There are many conflicting stories about whether it is true or not. I do find it hard to believe that they would let the dog run loose in the gallery and that it "escaped."

We are all outraged if this is true.

[inlovewithanimals]

this man needs to be shown as "art" and suffer with food about 20 feet away from him see if he likes slowly starving i signed the petition and am number 2019296 i can not wait to hear the outcome of this one i cant believe people can be so cruel!!! ugh it just makes me so mad when people show no care for animals them themselves are animals for this!!!!
and as far as signatures right now as of 1:45 pacific time there are 2019321

[Kirsten]

this man needs to be shown as "art" and suffer with food about 20 feet away from him see if he likes slowly starving

I totally agree!!

Kirsten

[pepper636]

2021030 Signatures Total

[lizbud]

Thank you for removing the pictures.


Gini, in the link you provided, it almost seemed like this was all a staged
event calculated to provoke strong emotions and the dog was not really
starved to death. :confused:

[Catty1]

http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=85737

Starved to death dog art was a hoax!
I expect alot of you saw the story of the dog in Costa Rica that was reportedly tied up and starved to death by an artist. Well, new sources now say that this was a stunt aimed at showing what "hypocritical sheep" people are. The dog was apparently fed and watered while in the gallery and was let back onto the streets at the end of the photo shoot. Story here:

http://thepetextraordinarium.blogspot.com/

Now I know that this was not a good way to get his message across and did not make very good art but it does go to show some things about people. How many have signed a petition against the Costa Rican government for letting this dog and others like it starve on their streets? When you bring that same dog into a gallery then nearly 1 million sign against it.


Vargas, 32, said he wanted to test the public's reaction, and
insisted none of the exhibition visitors intervened to stop
the animal's suffering. He refused to say whether the animal
had survived the show, but said he had received dozens of
death threats.

Juanita Bermúdez, director of the Códice Gallery, insisted
Natividad escaped after just one day. She said: 'It was untied
all the time except for the three hours the exhibition lasted
and it was fed regularly with dog food Habacuc himself brought
in.'

And this with some more links:

http://marielouiseplum.blogspot.com/2008/04/starving-dog-as-art-gallery-confirm.html

[Medusa]

Real or staged, just knowing that someone could think of something so cruel in the name of art or anything else is sickening. I don't know how much of this kind of stuff I can take.