Three works, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other (2003), Huang Yong Ping’s Theater of the World (1993), and Xu Bing’s A Case Study of Transference (1994), were withdrawn from New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum last year following public outrage at the use of animals in the artworks. Two of these works (Theater of the World and A Case Study of Transference) will now appear at Guggenheim Bilbao where the travelling exhibition Art and China after 1989: Theatre of the World is due to open on 11 May, Artnet reports. Sun Yuan and Peng Yu’s Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other will be replaced with Freedom (2003), an installation that consists of a hanging high-pressure hose that fires blasts of water against the floor and walls. In a statement, a spokesperson for the museum has said the museum has taken precautions which have ‘included working closely with the artist as well as with regional experts to determine the types of reptiles and insects and how they would be sourced and cared for. Trained professionals will oversee the care of the reptiles throughout the run of the exhibition.’ Following it’s presentation in Bilbao, the exhibition is scheduled to travel to SFMOMA in San Francisco, but that the decision has yet to be made on whether the works will be included.
1 May 2018
