Damien Hirst has never been a fan favorite amongst animal rights
activists. They didn't love his formaldehye soaked shark and
they weren't so pleased with his served cow's head, so you can
imagine how they reacted to the butterfly massacre that was his
recent exhibit.
The atrocity
art installation, titled "In and Out of Love," was shown at the
Tate Modern earlier this year. It consisted of of just two white
and windowless rooms filled with live butterflies whizzing about,
and was part of a larger retrospective that involved other winged
insect-inspired creations.
But it's entering headlines (and enraging the humane population
of the world) this week because The Telegraph announced
on Sunday that the absurd Tate show resulted in the total death
toll of over 9,000 butterflies. Stepped on, violently swatted, or
bored to death by contemporary art, the 23 week-retrospective
reportedly led to approximately 400 winged deaths per week.
Not surpisingly, the mass murder of Lepidoptera (of the Owl and
Heliconius species) has ruffled the feathers of animal lovers near
and far, including members of the UK's (RSPCA), (PETA), and
the chief executive of Butterfly Conservation of Britain.
The Tate Modern defended Hirst's exhibit, remarking to The
Telegraph: "The butterflies used in this work were all...selected
from varieties known to thrive in the conditions created. The
butterflies lived out the final stage of their natural life cycle
inside this room."
Hirst himself stood up to defend his slaughter as well, saying
in a statement to The Daily Mail. that he employed a
butterfly expert for his show at "considerable cost." He added that
the living conditions created at the museum were "perfect" and
"resulted in many butterflies enjoying longer lifespans due to the
high quality of the environment and food provided."
As far as we know, butterflies do not thrive well in windowless
museum halls, but we are not professional. And the survival
rate reported by The Telegraph -- a couple of hours to several days
-- does not measure up well to the the particular species' actual
lifespan in the wild -- serveral months. But again, we're not
"considerably costly" experts, are we?
