Guillermo Habacuc Vargas
a dying dog as 'Art'
The Dubious Art Of Torture
A ghastly story circulating on the Web since last year (2008) concerns a performance by Costa Rican artist Guilermo Vargas Habacuc, who tied a starving stray dog in a gallery space in Nicarugua, out of reach but not the smell of food, and let him die. After a deluge of outraged messages, the gallery denied the story, saying the obviously near-death dog had escaped. (Gallery reasoning here, via Edward Hussein Winkleman)
Guillermo Vargas Jiménez,(born September 18, 1975, in San José, Costa Rica) is an artist best known for the controversy caused when he exhibited an emaciated dog in a gallery in Nicaragua in 2007
Life and work
Guillermo Vargas studied to be a special education teacher at the Universidad Interamericana de Costa Rica, but he did not graduate. Vargas describes himself as a self-taught artist. Vargas's media include photography, paintings, performance art, installation art, theatrical dance, and video. He has exhibited In Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as at the Inter-American Development Bank in the United States. Vargas was chosen as one of six representatives from Costa Rica to present at the Bienal Centroamericana Honduras in 2008 and again for the Bienal del Istmo 2010. In June, 2010, two of Vargas's videos were to be presented at the Bienal de Pontevedra in Spain; however, after Vargas showed up wearing a t-shirt that read "camis ETA," his videos were removed from the program.
Exposición N° 1
In August, 2007, Vargas displayed his "Exposición N° 1" in the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua. The exposition included the burning of 175 pieces of crack cocaine and an ounce of marijuana while the Sandinista anthem played backwards. The work also included an emaciated dog tied to a wall by a length of rope with "Eres Lo Que Lees" ("You Are What You Read") written on the wall in dog food. The work attracted controversy when it was reported that the dog had starved to death as part of Vargas's work. Photographs of the exhibit appeared on the Internet, showing the dog tied to the wall in a room full of standing people. There are no indications in the photos of where or when they were taken, nor of who took them. The outrage triggered by the photos and the allegations that the dog had been left to starve to death quickly spread internationally via blogs, e-mails, and other unconfirmed sources, including internet petitions to prevent Vargas from participating in the 2008 Bienal Centroamericana in Honduras that received over four million signatures. Vargas has endorsed the petition, saying that he, too, has signed it.
Juanita Bermúdez, the director of the Códice Gallery, stated that the animal was fed regularly and was only tied up for three hours on one day before it escaped. Vargas himself refused to comment on the fate of the dog, but noted that no one tried to free the dog, give it food, call the police, or do anything for the dog.
Vargas stated that the exhibit and the surrounding controversy highlight people's hypocrisy because no one cares about a dog that starves to death in the street. In an interview with El Tiempo, Vargas explained that he was inspired by the death of Natividad Canda, an indigent Nicaraguan addict, who was killed by two Rottweilers in Cartago Province, Costa Rica, while being filmed by the news media in the presence of police, firefighters, and security guards.
Upon conducting a probe, the Humane Society of the United States was informed that the dog was in a state of starvation when it was captured and escaped after one day of captivity; however, the organization also categorically condemned "the use of live animals in exhibits such as this." The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) also investigated the exhibit. WSPA found the information regarding the issue to be "inconsistent" and met with sponsors of the Honduras Bienal to ensure that no animals would be abused at the 2008 exhibition in that country.
Life and work
Guillermo Vargas studied to be a special education teacher at the Universidad Interamericana de Costa Rica, but he did not graduate. Vargas describes himself as a self-taught artist. Vargas's media include photography, paintings, performance art, installation art, theatrical dance, and video. He has exhibited In Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, as well as at the Inter-American Development Bank in the United States. Vargas was chosen as one of six representatives from Costa Rica to present at the Bienal Centroamericana Honduras in 2008 and again for the Bienal del Istmo 2010. In June, 2010, two of Vargas's videos were to be presented at the Bienal de Pontevedra in Spain; however, after Vargas showed up wearing a t-shirt that read "camis ETA," his videos were removed from the program.
Exposición N° 1
In August, 2007, Vargas displayed his "Exposición N° 1" in the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua. The exposition included the burning of 175 pieces of crack cocaine and an ounce of marijuana while the Sandinista anthem played backwards. The work also included an emaciated dog tied to a wall by a length of rope with "Eres Lo Que Lees" ("You Are What You Read") written on the wall in dog food. The work attracted controversy when it was reported that the dog had starved to death as part of Vargas's work. Photographs of the exhibit appeared on the Internet, showing the dog tied to the wall in a room full of standing people. There are no indications in the photos of where or when they were taken, nor of who took them. The outrage triggered by the photos and the allegations that the dog had been left to starve to death quickly spread internationally via blogs, e-mails, and other unconfirmed sources, including internet petitions to prevent Vargas from participating in the 2008 Bienal Centroamericana in Honduras that received over four million signatures. Vargas has endorsed the petition, saying that he, too, has signed it.
Juanita Bermúdez, the director of the Códice Gallery, stated that the animal was fed regularly and was only tied up for three hours on one day before it escaped. Vargas himself refused to comment on the fate of the dog, but noted that no one tried to free the dog, give it food, call the police, or do anything for the dog.
Vargas stated that the exhibit and the surrounding controversy highlight people's hypocrisy because no one cares about a dog that starves to death in the street. In an interview with El Tiempo, Vargas explained that he was inspired by the death of Natividad Canda, an indigent Nicaraguan addict, who was killed by two Rottweilers in Cartago Province, Costa Rica, while being filmed by the news media in the presence of police, firefighters, and security guards.
Upon conducting a probe, the Humane Society of the United States was informed that the dog was in a state of starvation when it was captured and escaped after one day of captivity; however, the organization also categorically condemned "the use of live animals in exhibits such as this." The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) also investigated the exhibit. WSPA found the information regarding the issue to be "inconsistent" and met with sponsors of the Honduras Bienal to ensure that no animals would be abused at the 2008 exhibition in that country.
What Guillermo Habacuc Vargas says about it...
Blog Remember Natividad !!!
http://reiskeks-natividad.blogspot.com/2007/10/guillermo-habacuc-vargas-admits-on-his.html
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Guillermo Habacuc Vargas admits on his new created MySpace page, that he indeed killed the dog!
Here is a part of his original [most recent] statement:
"Hello everyone. My name is Guillermo Habacuc Vargas. I am 50 years old and an artist. Recently, I have been critisized for my work titled "Eres lo que lees", which features a dog named Nativity. The purpose of the work was not to cause any type of infliction on the poor, innocent creature, but rather to illustrate a point. In my home city of San Jose, Costa Rica, tens of thousands of stray dogs starve and die of illness each year in the streets and no one pays them a second thought.
Now, if you publicly display one of these starving creatures, such as the case with Nativity, it creates a backlash that brings out a big of hypocrisy in all of us. Nativity was a very sick creature and would have died in the streets anyway"
So there is just this to say: We see, that not only the gallery was lying from the beginning, but also, what we have to think about all statements of this "artist".
We see how he is changing his statement, depending on how the public reactions are - first statement was "the dog would have died anyway" - second statement was "I cannot say if the dog died or not" - third statement was "I wanted to do it to remember Mr. Natividad Canda" [the burglar killed by guard dogs] - fourth statement was "I did the exhibition to show the terrible situation of street dogs".... etc...
The next statement will be obviously "Santa Claus and Ronald McDonald jumped into the exhibition and took the dog" or something like that?!
Source: http://guillermohabacucvargas.blogspot.com/
Outrage at 'starvation' of a stray dog for art
an article published in The Guardian March 30, 2008
Chaining up a dog and forcing it to go without food and water in the name of art is a surefire way of making yourself unpopular with animal lovers. The furore created by Damien Hirst's pickled sheep and Tracey Emin's dirty bed pales into insignificance against the international outrage Guillermo 'Habacuc' Vargas has unleashed.
The Costa Rican has been called an animal abuser, killer and worse over claims that a stray dog called Natividad died of starvation after he displayed it at an exhibition last year at the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua. Vargas tethered the animal without food and water under the words 'Eres Lo Que Lees' - 'You Are What You Read' - made out of dog biscuits while he played the Sandinista anthem backwards and set 175 pieces of crack cocaine alight in a massive incense burner. More than a million people have signed an online petition urging organisers of this year's event to stop Vargas taking part.
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.'
Source: The Guardian
The Costa Rican has been called an animal abuser, killer and worse over claims that a stray dog called Natividad died of starvation after he displayed it at an exhibition last year at the Códice Gallery in Managua, Nicaragua. Vargas tethered the animal without food and water under the words 'Eres Lo Que Lees' - 'You Are What You Read' - made out of dog biscuits while he played the Sandinista anthem backwards and set 175 pieces of crack cocaine alight in a massive incense burner. More than a million people have signed an online petition urging organisers of this year's event to stop Vargas taking part.
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.'
Source: The Guardian
