Blender of the day
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Helena - The Goldfish blender, by Marco Evaristti (the artist famous for offering meatballs cooked with fat from his own body), is an installation of 10 working blenders containing live fish. Visitors were invited to press the "on" button.
When shown at the Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding Denmark a few years ago, activists complained and Museum Chief Peter Meyer was charged with animal cruelty. The court ruled that the fish were not treated cruelly, as they were killed "instantly" and "humanely". I'm not a great fan of the work (the artist's motivations sound a bit shallow) but an old blender would actually make a nice fish bowl. Having spent a few days at the Salone del Mobile seeing projects that sooo want to appear "witty, subversive and fun" (yawn!), i think that the fish blender/bowl is the kind of work that young designers might have come up with. Another victorious outcome for blender art projects: Barbie In A Blender. |
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I kind of like it. I like the fact that it's always the viewer who decides if they want to kill the goldfish or not, not the artist himself. Could be seen as a commentary on personal responsibility. Too bad the goldfish has to die, though. People kind of suck that way.
Artists kind of suck that way, too. An artwork that kills for the sake of trying to explain people that they are responsible for their own actions and - even worse - reflect on the role of the recipient in art is just horrible, if you ask me. It's a waste for the sake of stating the obvious.
There's other things to blend which are more fun anyway.
While I find it quite brutal and distasteful, from an artistic perspective I think it puts the viewer through an interesting set of self reflections. Perhaps people were incredulous that the blenders were functional or that the fish were real. What a shock when you learn. I'd be pissed if I felt tricked into killing a fish, though.