April 28 | Animal sacrifice for the arts

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A hot topic in the news recently, has been the running trend of contemporary artists using animals — for their bodies — in performance and installation work. Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch looks set to stage a performance in Tasmania this June, using the dead carcase of a bull. However, animal rights activists are joining forces with a 20,700-strong petition to halt the event. In other news, Do Ho Suh wins the 2017 Ho-Am Prize in South Korea.

Sacrificial performance piece by Hermann Nitsch challenged by petition

Using the carcass of a slaughtered bull, a performance work by the Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch, has been given the go-ahead to stage a “bloody, sacrificial ritual” on 17 June in Tasmania. Despite protestations prior to the event’s permission, the event looks set to go ahead. This morning, April 27, animal rights activists Animal Liberation Tasmania set up an online petition contesting the event.

The petition calls on the City of Hobart to cancel the performance, which “trivialises the slaughter of animals for human usage, and condemns a sentient being to death in the pursuit of artistic endeavours.” So far, the petition has reached over 20,700 signatures. In January 2015, an exhibition of Nitsch's work at the Jumex Collection in Mexico City was cancelled following protests.

 

A performance by Hermann Nitsch whose art will appear at Dark Mofo 2017


 

Lauren Cornell takes up double post at Bard College, New York

The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College has hired Lauren Cornell as director of its graduate program. Cornell, who is currently a curator at the New Museum, will also take up the position of chief curator of the school’s Hessel Museum, beginning July 1.

Executive director of Hessel, Tom Eccles, has cited the Center’s recent expansion as an enabling factor in Cornell’s hiring. Taking on the newly created position of chief curator, Cornell will direct and organise the museum’s upcoming exhibition programme, and oversee archival research, symposia, public programs, publishing initiatives and the expansion of the museum’s collection — all of which, Eccles hopes will “create greater opportunities for the CCS students, the undergraduate programs at Bard, and visitors to the museum.” Details via Bard College's CCS

 

Lauren Cornell. Image courtesy of the Observer © 


 

Ho-Am Prize for the Arts won by Korean sculptor Do Ho Suh

Do Ho Suh has been awarded the 2017 Ho-Am Prize for the arts, and will receive $275,000 in prize money. Set up by Samsung chair, Kun-Hee Lee, in 1990, the annual prize honors Koreans who’ve made significant contributions to the fields of science, engineering, medicine, community, and the arts.

Renowned for his site-specific installations, his art practice, through manipulating scale, emphasizes the malleability of space. His work also examines the issues of cultural identity and anonymity. Suh was commended for his ability to “capture not only the real world but also the imaginary world, which encompasses the past and the present as well as the East and the West [via] the artist’s efforts to express his experiences of traversing different cultures, thereby elevating the status of the Korean art.” Details via The Ho-Am Foundation

 

Installation view of Do Ho Suh’s most recent exhibition at Victoria Miro in London, “Passage/s”