Fwd: Tell San Francisco Art Institute to remove snuff video exhibit from gallery

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> " In Defense of Animals " <takeaction

> March 25, 2008 6:26:22 PM PDT

> " Rosalind Lord " <rclord

> Tell San Francisco Art Institute to remove snuff video

> exhibit from gallery

> notice-reply-wxuux7xrvmwdxj8

>

>

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> The " Art " of Animal Cruelty

>

> Tell San Francisco Art Institute to remove snuff video exhibit

> from gallery

>

> Walk into the Walter and McBean Galleries in San Francisco's posh

> Russian Hill neighborhood, and you may be shocked to see what

> passes for contemporary " art " these days. Six televisions display

> video images of six different animals -- a doe, a goat, a horse, an

> ox, a pig, and a sheep -- being bludgeoned to death with a large

> sledgehammer by " artist " Adel Abdessemed of Paris. Entitled " Don't

> Trust Me, " this sick exhibit is Abdessemed's and the Institute's

> self-serving attempt to pass off the brutal abuse and killing of

> animals as legitimate artistic creation.

>

> What such " artists " and their patrons overlook is that animals are

> living beings who feel and suffer just like we humans -- and we

> are no more justified in taking their lives at will than we have

> the right to kill another person. Such abuse of animals may elicit

> horror and disgust in viewers, but that does not qualify it as art.

> Far from it -- in fact, " Don't Trust Me " represents the very worst

> impulses of the human imagination.

>

> It takes no artistic talent or ability to kill animals, and

> Abdessemed should have never been given a venue for his sickening

> " work " in the first place. To their great discredit, the San

> Francisco Art Institute agreed to sponsor this exhibit, lending it

> an air of credibility, but what makes matters worse are the obscene

> rationalizations this venerable institution of learning and culture

> offers in defense of the sleazy snuff films. These include pedantic

> claims that such killings " regularly take place...in the real

> world, on a regular basis, " and that the installation " (makes)

> typical moral and cultural constraints seem beside the point. "

>

> Such statements betray not only a lack of compassion and basic

> human decency, but also a fundamental confusion of true artistic

> creation with the destruction of life. Abdessemed's work is of no

> artistic value, and rather than raise people's consciousness about

> the cruelties committed against animals every day, it will

> encourage them to accept animal abuse as a way of gaining attention

> and notoriety.

>

> To call someone who murders animals an " artist " is an insult to

> every real artist who refuses to rely on violence and shallow,

> sensationalistic gimmicks to express his or her vision. While the

> work of such murderers will surely not endure, their antics may

> encourage and incite others to torture and kill animals, so it is

> crucial that people of conscience voice our outrage over this

> monstrous display of cruelty.

>

>

>

> Please Take Action to urge the San Francisco Art Institute to

> remove Abdessemed's disgusting exhibit immediately, and implement a

> policy explicitly prohibiting exhibits for which animals were

> exploited or killed.

>

>

> Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.

> Tell-a-friend!

>

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> In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an

> international animal protection organization with more than 85,000

> members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and

> exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare.

> IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations,

> boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our

> sanctuaries in Mississippi and Cameroon, Africa.

>

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