Guillermo Habacuc Vargas
In August 2007, as part of his installment at the Bienarte 2007 in
Managua,
Nicaragua,
Costa Rican artist
Guillermo Habacuc Vargas tied up a stray dog,
Natividad, and left it without food or water in the exhibition hall for the duration of the event. Allegedly, the dog later died.
Vargas alternatively defended his actions by claiming that the dog would have died anyway, and later that the dog did not die at all. Since the event, several petitions have circulated the Internet, in both English and Spanish, condemning Vargas and urging that the artist be banned from Bienarte 2008.
Fast Facts:
- The gallery claims the dog didn't die, but escaped back to the streets after the exhibition.
- Vargas named the dog Natividad in honor, he said, of a Nicaraguan burglar killed by two Rottweilers
- Also in the exhibition: a wall with dog kibble that spelled, in Spanish, "You Are What You Read"
- Also in the exhibition: an incense burner with crack cocaine and marijuana
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