Guillermo Habacuc Vargas Starves A Dog To Death For His Art
AFTER the abortion art, Anorak learns of Costa Rican artiste Guillermo Habacuc Vargas, who starved a dog to death and tied in an art gallery as an exhibit.
The title of the works – Eres Lo Que Lees” - was spelt out on the gallery wall in dry dog food, beyond the dog’s reach. A pot of water was placed on the floor, beyond the dog’s reach. The dog died. The artist said it was ill and would have died anyway.
Not every one is happy. A letter writing campaign is being organised:
I, along with many people worldwide, am outraged that Guillermo Habacuc Vargas has been selected to represent Costa Rica in “Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008.” This man is by no definition of the word an artist. He is a criminally insane sadist and enjoys inflicting prolonged suffering upon his innocent victims. He is a danger to all of society, as it is well-documented that those with the capacity to intentionally cause harm to an animal have the same capacity to harm humans. To state that this animal would have died eventually of natural causes is unjustifiable and defies logical, rational thought.
But is it cruelty?
Posted: 18th, April 2008 | In: Strange But True Comments (98) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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December 1st, 2008 at 11:40 pm
You Are What You Read
“I think this guy is sick! Someone should tie him up, no, put him in a glass box, so that he can’t stand up. Then heat up the room that he’s in and have a waterfall going in the corner. And if the bastard doesn’t die in a day, then gut him from head to toe. That shit isn’t art it’s the work of a disgusting piece of shit, devil, who deserves to burn in hell for that.”
This is just one of the thousands of outraged comments found across the internet directed at the artist Guillermo ‘Habacuc’ Vargas. Vargas gained global attention in 2007 when he captured an emaciated dog from the streets of San Jose, exhibited it in The Codice Gallery, Nicaragua. Tied up with no food or water he let the dog starve to death, with the title ‘Eres Lo Que Lees’ (‘You Are What You Read’) written in dog food on the wall behind the animal. The story swept across the internet as a chain email directing you to an online petition to stop the artist repeating the piece while representing Costa Rica at Bienal Centroamericana in Honduras in November of this year. The petition now holds over a two and a half million signatures. Angry blogs and Youtube videos call for Vargas to be given the same treatment as the dog and be tied to a post with no food or water. These blogs and videos feature thousands of comments, like the one above, condemning the artist as an “animal murderer” and denouncing his work as inhumane cruelty. Facebook groups have been created for incensed users to rant and rave about Vargas’ actions. These groups have hundreds of thousands of members. Vargas and the gallery have even received death threats.
The gallery later insisted that the dog, named Natividad, did not in fact starve to death but ‘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’ and then escaped after one day. Vargas has declined to comment on the condition of the animal but says he wanted to test the public’s reaction and highlight the plight facing thousands of stray dogs in San Jose.
“Habacuc has put the guests in a position to question their own moral responsibility. Failure to act to save the dog indicates a process of rationalization on behalf of the guest, which probably considered the perceived facts of the situation: the dog was a stray set to face death anyway, it’s so far malnourished that it will be miserable regardless, it’s for the sake of art and who am I to ruin it, etc.”
Vargas’ refusal to comment on the dog’s survival has only furthered speculation about the dog’s demise and it is precisely what the artist wanted. The furore over the whole situation has become part of the artwork itself with each incensed comment and angry email adding to it’s message. Even though no one at the exhibition stepped in to help the poor dog, hundreds of thousands have felt aggrieved enough to sign the petition after reading the email or to leave a comment at the end of a blog. The artwork’s title You Are What You Read – it makes sense. To make no action when you feel things are in control but as soon as you’re told they aren’t and it’s easy to do “your bit”, everyone jumps on board.
Vargas’ work highlights people’s ability to ignore suffering and cruelty until it is presented to them out of the context of everyday life. There are tens of thousands of stray, starving dogs on the streets of San Jose and only a tiny proportion of the global population are actually trying to help them. Then as soon as one is publicly displayed, the whole world throws up their arms in outrage and jostles to get on the bandwagon. By putting the animal in an art gallery, Vargas made an example of the dog. While some people will find that cruel, the statement that he was making about cruelty was immensely resonant, sparking off this global debate. Vargas was, in fact, making an example out of us, the apathetic public. He understood, and intended, the outcry that took place, it was all part of his artwork, and while it doesn’t lessen the impact of the impassioned outbursts of those against the spectacle, it shows them in a different perspective. The comments are turned back on the commenters to expose their contradictions. The striking thing is that some people are still not backing down, in spite of the evidence presented that the dog survived and was well-looked after, and stubbornly continue to protest.
“With the unlimited access to information comes the heavy responsibility of critical thinking.”
The furious reactions to the exhibit have come from all over the world, probably further than even Vargas could have imagined. The exaggerated interest has amplified the artist’s local concerns about stray dogs on the streets of San Jose and turned them into a global discussion about animal cruelty. This would have been incapable of happening without the World Wide Web. This far-reaching technology has shrunk the world to an unimaginably small scale. Through instant messaging, Facebook statuses and online forums; news, information and gossip can be sent around the planet in a flash and can be discussed between people of cultures than would not usually have contact. The internet has become an interactive, electronic debating table where anyone can voice their opinion, intellectual or ignorant, and be heard, but with the abundance and easy availability of information, you have to be careful what you believe.
Anybody can access Wikipedia and write something, anybody can write a blog and anybody can read them. Chain emails arrive in inboxes everyday claiming that Bill Gates wants to give you money or that forwarding the email to ten more people will bring you good luck and most people delete them instantly but something about Vargas’ case was different. Even though it only takes a couple of minutes ‘googling’ the name Guillermo Vargas to find websites and weblogs that provided evidence to the contrary of the petitions and protests against Vargas’ work, millions of people didn’t take the time, when faced with the chain email, to think for themselves, do a tiny amount of research and come to an informed decision. Instead they condemn a man off the back of uninformed evidence.
The increase in audience awareness across the world has shifted the possible outcomes of work for artists such as Vargas. His exploration into the reaction that this work could cause highlights how much our communicative powers have changed over the last decade. But equally it exposes our almost unquestionable belief in the information that we know is being written behind screens. Our faith in the words written by others has come out of historical approaches to recording and writing our histories and events. But in this new age of mass un-vetted and uncontrolled communication our creative and expressive avenues must become increasingly self aware, for if you are what you read then we must be able to stand behind what we write.
References
http://www.theginblog.com/2007/10/artist-chains-up-dog-until-it-dies-is-this-art-or-animal-abuse/
http://www.pluginamp.com/network/node/3575
http://www.dabbler.ca/news/parliament-of-one-starving-dog-as-art-%E2%80%93-don%E2%80%99t-believe-everything-you-read-20080411/
June 13th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I HOPE THAT WHAT GUILLERMO DID WHITH THE DOG ..THAT SOME PEOPLE DO THE SAME WHITH HIS CHILD.
June 5th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Receiving an e-mail with photos in work about this sick twisted scumbag, I felt physically sick and couldn’t stop gagging! I agree with a comment from a guy from n.ireland, whats next on the cards, pedophiles in a room for exhibition with young children???? Totally disgusting, barbaric and inhumane! This guy ought to be castrated then starved! Lets hope his fate involves a very large dog with very big teeth!!!!! The sooner the law in this world gets a grip on itself the better!
May 27th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
when i went to kassiopi in greece i was so shocked to see the amount of stray cats and dogs who i couldnt ignore and did feed the ones i could ! i went to a restaurant and even threw my steak to a dog who was being shooed out of the place much to the owners annoyance! i think the artist had a point in saying that only when the dog appeared in the art gallery did ppl actually take notice of this ill and starved dog and the reports say the dog was fed and given water before the exhibit but he wanted to give the illusion it was being starved because he says ppl are hypocrites ! however i wasnt there and i can see both sides to this arguement as i adore animals and against animal cruelty.
May 19th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
This is totally sick and yes, if I saw this poor dog starving in the street I would have helped it as I always help sick animals that I find on the street.
Hopefully spreading the word through internet helps us prevent idiots from performing cruelty such as this. It’s horrible and disgusting and hopefully this artist will never be able to expose anywhere again and if he does I’d like to tie him up & starve him, I’d pay to watch actually. This is sick, sick, sick and if the artist reads this, this is not a discussion about art, it is a discussion about his own sick mind, if he has any at all…..
May 12th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
first off, lemme say dis wuz just dumb. do ppl in honduras really just sit around and think of things to do that piss da rest of the world off?!? wat i don’t understand is, why did he hav to put water and food ther just beyond the dogs reach?!? and my second question is, wher are the sick bastards who came and paid good money to watch dis bullshit?
April 30th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
This is such a sick person. He should go to prison for his sick evil ways. And to the person on here that said how many of us would have watched. COME ON because you give monthly to a animal care place doesn’t make you one PERSON SPECIAL. You bet your ace I would have not just stood there would have creamed this guy. Probably be in jail now myself. No I don’t give to an animal place every month. I don’t have the funds for that and I have so many PEOPLE that need my help. Though I have saved many an animal in my life!!! Many Many! And yes I do stop for them when injured and take them to the vet. So do a lot of people!!! I also have a therapy dog that I take to hospitals and nursing homes to cheer up PEOPLE who by the way are also important. Most of us writing here love animals and yes we would have done something, you better believe it. Get off your high horse your not the only person that loves and cares for animals in this world.
This guy is dangerous and should be dealt with. Anyone that stood there watching is a disgrace to mankind. And where were the guys??? Why wasn’t there one MAN there to kick his ass ! Too bad there wasn’t a harley man out there by gosh he would have showed him ART! People most of you I know would have done something. Let’s make a point of it! Next time we see some sick punk picking on a defenseless child or animal, let’s show him the freedom of our rights as HUMANS to clean up his evil butt! lol
God bless all, and now I won’t sleep tonight at all. Sign the petition!
Cheryl
April 30th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I am out and out animal supporter, and am also, as many of you, disgusted that this man considers this cruelty “art”, BUT jen is right - how many of you, if you had seen this poor starving creature on the street, would have stopped and helped it? Really? How many times have any of you seen animals hit by cars and driven past? How many of you donate regularly (and I mean every month/year) to an animal welfare group?
Think about it.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
What an absolutely pathetic little man this is !! trying to gain some recognition!! I suspect he’s no good as an artist and has to do something to bring attention to himself for lack of TALENT !!!!!! I know what I’d like to do to him and I can’t put it into print!!!!!!!!!! I think the people in this gallery as guilty as him…how anyone can stand and chat drink coffee and act like they’re “in the know” art wise is pure CRUELTY!!!!!!!!!!!! and the proor pitiful creature STARVES before them!!!!!!!!!
What DISGUSTING LOW SICK AND EVIL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 5:18 am
let’s tie him to a room and starve him.
April 26th, 2008 at 12:08 am
come on really!
he was making a statement
cus we drive past dogs everyday who are going to die and we never stop to pick them up and feed them..
and the dogs in the pound we never go adopt them
in fact our tax money is what puts them to “sleep”
..but we don’t think about that on a daily basis… we ignore it. cus we humans like to ignore reality.. we “smooth” things over
yet ppls are getting so riled up over this dog. who probably died of natural causes, was sick etc.. or was put to “sleep” humm by our tax money? does that mean.. we killed the dog..humm..???
“Accounts of Vargas’s animal abuse vary, however; one gallery director says that the dog was fed regularly and only confined to the chain for a few hours”
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in animal cruelty, but these sort of petitions and groups that seem to be popular on the internet are usually unresearched by most and usually followed by people who only care to feign interest.
Why not petition against the people who took the pictures or who walked by every time and did nothing….are they not cruel too?
I am sure almost all of us have scared off a stray we saw digging through our garbage, should we not be petitioned against for denying the dog’s right to eat? What so special about this one that warrants a petition and to publicly condemn the man?
it’s what we artsie ppls call SURREAL art…
it’s somewhat like Man Ray’s “gift”…..
http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/art/gift.jpg
…. he’s saying here.. why do we iron.. cus we iron and before we leave the house it’s wrinkled, yet we spend hrs upon hrs ironing
some ppls iron their socks and underwear… why?!
cus we humans like to SMOOTH THINGS OVER. there’s a war going on and we flick through the news.. think about it for 5mins and then go on about our daily lives..
THINK PPLS..
for example you see all those ad’s on tv homeless kids and u feel bad.. some of us change the channel..
wel changing the channel wont help those kids
feeling bad for them certainly wont help. do u personally know anyone that has called and donated money to any of those organizations.. if u have great. but im saying majority of ppls don’t
the artists is raising awareness though the media cus he knows this is the only way it will get through to ppls.
if he hadn’t done something so drastic.. would u be sitting there even thinking about the stray dogs and cats?
u can see a million picts feel sorry for the animals just like those starving kids in Africa but it takes something like this for ppls to actually do something about it.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
i cant believe wht im seein here…next they will be puttin Pedophiles in a box with a child and callin it art,extreme tht may be but its in the same league in my opinion
its fuken disgrace and if the guy lived here in n/ireland things would be done
he certainly wouldnt be in the country to long
April 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I read an argument, supposedly made by Guillermo himself, that the point of his exhibit was to draw attention to the starving dogs in the streets of his country. He said it made no difference, because the dog would die anyways, and he was attempting to draw attention to this issue.
I would like to point out the HUGE, OBVIOUS difference between a dog starving on the street, and one starving on display in an art exhibit. A dog starving on the street can still fend for himself, he can search for scraps, he can eat bugs if he has to, he can find water wherever possible, he has his freedom to move around. A dog tied up on display in an art exhibit is deprived of even those rights. It is torture. I am too disgusted by what Guillermo did to even begin to say what should be done to Guillermo as retribution for the poor, defenceless dog.
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Tell Guierllmo that now there is no God. I wish i had the strength to wring the wasted shit out of him slowly until he dies.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
MAybe it should be Habacuc on that rope instead!
Guess he would call that art too if he could
Go to hell Guillermo, u f…. sick mind
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:27 am
ART!! what the fuck!!!!
Has this insane man got his 15 minutes of fame, or lovely loaded paycheck he was expecting?
Whats wrong with a paintbrush?
Someone remind me the point of this pointless project please?
If this was a human being, the response would be quite different, but yet still people still reguard animals (quite wrongly) as lesser sub-species. The thing that shocks me most, is that people actually went to see this discusting act for themselves. Even, most probably, paying for it!
Anyway, fuck the politeness, give me five minutes in a room with him, and i’ll show you some art!
April 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm
This is outrageous, I can’t believe anyone would want to go and see this, isn’t there enough unpreventable suffering going on in the world without unenlightened idiots creating more in the name of ART??? I repeat ART??? I am seriously restraining myself with my language, how would he like it, personally I think that would be a much better demonstration of ART, to see that idiot tied up like that and starving, people like that make me so sick. The dog is the highly enlightened being, at perhaps a soul level willing to sacrifice himself so that perhaps dumb humans will learn to appreciate life!!! Angels will be watching over the poor little thing, and in its next life I truly believe the tables will be turned and karma will be repaid to Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and I hope he really suffers !!!!!!!!!!!!
April 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Pure and utter evil thinly (and unsuccessfully) veiled as “art”. Sick to the core.
April 22nd, 2008 at 1:30 am
Brit, the guy’s Costa Rican. Why don’t you do a little research or at least read the first line of the article before you go insulting an entire country?
April 20th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The more I read about the bloody Spanish, the madder I get. I have travelled far and wide but I would never step foot in that poxy country if you paid me..shame on the bloody lot of you. How any “human being” could do this to an animal in the name of “art” is dispicable, and people walked passed and did nothing?!..well..what goes round..comes round..go to hell.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Luc - i ‘did’ a peice of art last year with the kids. I’ll post it onto aol piccy’s later so that you can have a laff…
would want to see some of yours in return though, before i send you the kitten piccy to male your millions with.
April 19th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Yes,I like them too and I have been practising by ‘doing copying’ of them, but using pink crayons and some felt tipped pens and some glitter. I can nearly draw a brolley now …
April 19th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Lucie -
what??
we got taste in our house init… got some other paintings from mattalan… £15.99 for three matching ones
(beech scenes - one with hammock, one with brolley and one with footprints)
came ready to hang in lovely silver frames as well.
Real Class…
April 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
nosey!
April 19th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Luc - i would really appreciate that.
I would put it up in the hallway next to that picture the beach artist did of my daughter a couple of years ago… 
April 19th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
noseycow - send me the photo and I could paint them for you sitting on some pink cushions! That would be lovely and SOOOO pretty!
April 19th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Luc… We got two black kittens (almost full grown) (one with long hair all fluffy), and their black beautiful mum.
Having studied the art of photography for years (cough) i took some lovely pictures of them sitting on a black leather couch…
should sell for millions…. 
April 19th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
How many kittens should I put in my pretty picture?
April 19th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Lucie - lovey - don’t get so angst about it all, or you’ll be in danger of becoming a ‘REAL’ artist…
April 19th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Thank you craig for your spot-on summation of me and my work. Having laboured under the delusion that I was an intelligent, analytical woman and artist, I now realise that I am merely a vacuous imbecile, incapable of a rational assessment of my own experiences and entirely lacking in what it really takes to ‘make’ art.
The blurred edges of what I used to consider to be my creative judgement have been pulled sharply into focus by your snap-shot verdict and I see now that I was never up to the challenge of art school, out there among the cognoscenti and real intellectuals. I see now that I couldn’t possibly understand what those clever people were talking about, it was all abstract ideas and decomposition of motives, when all I wanted to do was to do lots of pretty colouring in!
I looked at your work and had to laugh because it is very like my own. But now I know I’m out of my depth with proper stuff like that, (I don’t get it apparently) I’m off to do some lovely pictures of kittens on cushions so that I don’t have to worry my pretty little head about what it MEANS.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Costa Rica doesn’t have laws about this?