Animal Torture is Not Art

The dogs are strapped to treadmills facing each other. They desperately try to reach the dog in front of them, to sniff and lick them, to touch. But they never will, because this "art" exhibit is called "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other."

And if these dogs were shown an ounce of humanity, the exhibit would be ruined. Because apparently The Guggenheim believes that showing dogs being tortured is art.

While there will be no live dogs on treadmills at the upcoming "Art and China After 1989: Theater of the World" exhibit at The Guggenheim, there will be a video of the 2003 installation where four pit bulls were forced to run at each other on treadmills until they could run no more.

The video shows the dogs at first running on the treadmills, but they soon slow to a walk and their mouths hang open in exhaustion. They never stop trying to reach the dog in front of them, despite their obvious physical and emotional pain. This is how dogs are broken and turned into fighters.

Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, the "artists," claim that their exhibit is not animal abuse because the pit bulls they used were "naturally pugnacious." So not only did Yuan and Yu torture the poor dogs in their exhibit, they also are perpetuating dangerous stereotypes about pit bulls.

The Guggenheim has defended the exhibit by saying it is “an intentionally challenging and provocative artwork that seeks to examine and critique systems of power and control.” But there are plenty of ways to be provocative and examine power dynamics without torturing animals. What they are doing is providing a platform for animal abusers.

Sign this petition to demand that The Guggenheim take down "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other." Torturing dogs is not art.
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