Latest news with #AndNowYouCare?
USA Today
06-03-2025
- USA Today
Protest art piece planned to starve 3 piglets to death. Then they escaped.
Protest art piece planned to starve 3 piglets to death. Then they escaped. Three piglets have vanished from a controversial Denmark art exhibit in which they were deprived of food and water as a form of protest of mass meat production. Since debuting last week, the Copenhagen art installation − titled "And Now You Care?" − has captured headlines after an artist caged three live piglets and let them starve. The decision was part of an effort to raise awareness of the cruelty caused by the nation's pork industry, according to the Washington Post and The New York Times. Chilean artist Marco Evaristti said the animals disappeared after a maintenance crew briefly exited the room to clean a toilet, the Times reported. He said that animal rights activists were around at the scene. "After four minutes, they come out and it was no pigs," Evaristti told the Times. Copenhagen police have not confirmed whether the disappearance was theft though Evaristti reported it as such, according to the Post. He later learned that one of his staff had sought the help of the Organization Against the Suffering of Animals to snatch the piglets. USA TODAY has reached out to Evaristti and Copenhagen police for comment. Evaristti defends exhibit amid death threats Evaristti has said he has experienced outrage and death threats against him and his family following his exhibit. "I receive serious threats, hate letters - so my son is threatened and pictured with a garden cross on his forehead," he wrote on Facebook. Yet he has not wavered from his mission of showing the world the cruelty that pigs face, adding that he initially believed those on his team shared that same vision, the Washington Post reported. "I wanted them to die," Evaristti told the Post. "I wanted the people in Denmark to see how a piglet starves to death." High demand for pigs has led to a rise in both pig breeding and piglet morality, the Post reported. Denmark produces around 28 million pigs annually, according to the data from the Danish Food and Agriculture Council. Animal rights group says disappearance was not burglary or theft Organization Against the Suffering of Animals said in a Monday statement that the disappearance was not burglary or theft but rather an "arranged transfer" between one of Evaristti's staff. The colleague contacted the non-profit Saturday morning to say the pigs could be picked up that day, according to the statement. "We quickly initiated a plan for the collection, which was completed as agreed. During the pickup, there was no burglary or theft, and Evaristti's colleague delivered subsequent pig feed to our driver," the group said, adding that they want to "emphasize that our purpose in this case has been to keep the animals safe." Evaristti has previously hosted other controversial art exhibits, including one where people could turn on a blender with a swimming goldfish inside and another where he made and served meatballs out of his own body fat with agnolotti pasta, People Magazine reported.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Yahoo
Protest art piece planned to starve 3 piglets to death. Then they escaped.
Three piglets have vanished from a controversial Denmark art exhibit in which they were deprived of food and water as a form of protest of mass meat production. Since debuting last week, the Copenhagen art installation − titled "And Now You Care?" − has captured headlines after an artist caged three live piglets and let them starve. The decision was part of an effort to raise awareness of the cruelty caused by the nation's pork industry, according to the Washington Post and The New York Times. Chilean artist Marco Evaristti said the animals disappeared after a maintenance crew briefly exited the room to clean a toilet, the Times reported. He said that animal rights activists were around at the scene. "After four minutes, they come out and it was no pigs," Evaristti told the Times. Copenhagen police have not confirmed whether the disappearance was theft though Evaristti reported it as such, according to the Post. He later learned that one of his staff had sought the help of the Organization Against the Suffering of Animals to snatch the piglets. USA TODAY has reached out to Evaristti and Copenhagen police for comment. Evaristti has said he has experienced outrage and death threats against him and his family following his exhibit. "I receive serious threats, hate letters - so my son is threatened and pictured with a garden cross on his forehead," he wrote on Facebook. Yet he has not wavered from his mission of showing the world the cruelty that pigs face, adding that he initially believed those on his team shared that same vision, the Washington Post reported. "I wanted them to die," Evaristti told the Post. "I wanted the people in Denmark to see how a piglet starves to death." High demand for pigs has led to a rise in both pig breeding and piglet morality, the Post reported. Denmark produces around 28 million pigs annually, according to the data from the Danish Food and Agriculture Council. Organization Against the Suffering of Animals said in a Monday statement that the disappearance was not burglary or theft but rather an "arranged transfer" between one of Evaristti's staff. The colleague contacted the non-profit Saturday morning to say the pigs could be picked up that day, according to the statement. "We quickly initiated a plan for the collection, which was completed as agreed. During the pickup, there was no burglary or theft, and Evaristti's colleague delivered subsequent pig feed to our driver," the group said, adding that they want to "emphasize that our purpose in this case has been to keep the animals safe." Evaristti has previously hosted other controversial art exhibits, including one where people could turn on a blender with a swimming goldfish inside and another where he made and served meatballs out of his own body fat with agnolotti pasta, People Magazine reported. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Starving piglets escape from protest art exhibit: Reports
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
3 Piglets Were Left to Starve in a Shocking Art Exhibit. The Artist's Friend Admits Hatching Plot to Steal Them
Three piglets that were being deliberately starved as part of a controversial art exhibition have been stolen, according to the artist. Marco Evaristti, a Chilean artist living in Denmark, told The New York Times this week that the piglets were swiped from his exhibit at a former butcher's shop in Copenhagen on Saturday, March 1. He told the outlet that a maintenance crew briefly left the room to clean a toilet while animal rights activists were present. "After four minutes, they come out and it was no pigs." Copenhagen police told the Times that nobody had yet been charged in the theft, but Evaristti claimed in an interview with the Associated Press that they had been stolen with assistance from a friend of his, Casper Steffensen. Reached for comment, Steffensen confirms to PEOPLE he had "arranged" for the Organization Against the Suffering of Animals (OASA) to rescue the piglets from Evaristti, whom he described as his hero. "Marco is very dedicated to his work, and even though he has a big heart for animals, he would sacrifice them to make a greater statement," Steffensen told PEOPLE in an email. "I couldn't bare to watch [or] be a part of it — so early Saturday morning before we opened I arranged for OASA to rescue them." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. He noted that he had grown fond of the piglets and made the decision to assist in their rescue after his young daughter asked him if Evaristti planned to starve them. Inquiries from PEOPLE to Evaristti and Copenhagen police were not immediately returned. The piglets were trapped in a makeshift cage made of two shopping carts as part of Evaristti's exhibit, "And Now You Care?," meant to bring attention to the cruelty of the pork industry in Denmark. More than 27,000 piglets die per day in Danish pig barns, he wrote on Instagram. Evaristti reported receiving "hate messages" related to the project on social media, and the piece was denounced by animal rights campaigners. It's not Evaristti's first provocative exhibition. In 2000, Evaristti's Helena exhibit invited onlookers to press a button on a blender and kill a goldfish swimming inside. Years later, he would make meatballs out of his own body fat, removed via liposuction, and serve them at a dinner party with agnolotti pasta. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
3 Piglets Were Left to Starve in a Shocking Art Exhibit. The Artist's Friend Admits Hatching Plot to Steal Them
Three piglets that were being deliberately starved as part of a controversial art exhibition have been stolen, according to the artist. Marco Evaristti, a Chilean artist living in Denmark, told The New York Times this week that the piglets were swiped from his exhibit at a former butcher's shop in Copenhagen on Saturday, March 1. He told the outlet that a maintenance crew briefly left the room to clean a toilet while animal rights activists were present. "After four minutes, they come out and it was no pigs." Copenhagen police told the Times that nobody had yet been charged in the theft, but Evaristti claimed in an interview with the Associated Press that they had been stolen with assistance from a friend of his, Casper Steffensen. Reached for comment, Steffensen confirms to PEOPLE he had "arranged" for the Organization Against the Suffering of Animals (OASA) to rescue the piglets from Evaristti, whom he described as his hero. "Marco is very dedicated to his work, and even though he has a big heart for animals, he would sacrifice them to make a greater statement," Steffensen told PEOPLE in an email. "I couldn't bare to watch [or] be a part of it — so early Saturday morning before we opened I arranged for OASA to rescue them." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. He noted that he had grown fond of the piglets and made the decision to assist in their rescue after his young daughter asked him if Evaristti planned to starve them. Inquiries from PEOPLE to Evaristti and Copenhagen police were not immediately returned. The piglets were trapped in a makeshift cage made of two shopping carts as part of Evaristti's exhibit, "And Now You Care?," meant to bring attention to the cruelty of the pork industry in Denmark. More than 27,000 piglets die per day in Danish pig barns, he wrote on Instagram. Evaristti reported receiving "hate messages" related to the project on social media, and the piece was denounced by animal rights campaigners. It's not Evaristti's first provocative exhibition. In 2000, Evaristti's Helena exhibit invited onlookers to press a button on a blender and kill a goldfish swimming inside. Years later, he would make meatballs out of his own body fat, removed via liposuction, and serve them at a dinner party with agnolotti pasta. Read the original article on People
New York Times
04-03-2025
- New York Times
Piglets Left to Die in Art Exhibition Are Stolen in Denmark
Three piglets were stolen from an art exhibition in Copenhagen over the weekend after a provocative artist said they would be allowed to starve to death in a commentary about animal welfare in Denmark, one of the world's largest pork exporters. The artist, Marco Evaristti, said in an interview on Monday that his exhibition, 'And Now You Care?,' was meant to 'wake up the Danish society' to the mistreatment of pigs, pointing to statistics that tens of thousands of pigs die each day because of poor conditions. 'I have some kind of voice as an artist to talk about the issue,' Evaristti, 62, said. 'So I will share my thoughts about what I think about the treatment of the animals in Denmark.' The exhibition, which opened on Friday inside a former butcher's warehouse in the Meatpacking District of Copenhagen, included three live piglets that were caged by two shopping carts on a pile of straw. Large-scale paintings of the Danish flag and slaughtered pigs hung on the walls. The pigs, which were given water but no food, were expected to live up to five days. Evaristti said he also would not eat or drink until the exhibition came to an end. But the pigs did not die. They disappeared. Evaristti, who was born in Chile, said that while the exhibition space was being cleaned on Saturday morning, members of an animal rights organization came to check on the piglets. Shortly after they left, the theft occurred. 'They closed the door while the cleaning people were cleaning the toilet,' he said, adding that the door was unlocked. 'After four minutes, they come out and it was no pigs.' A spokesman for the Copenhagen Police said that it was notified about the theft just before noon on Saturday and that nobody had been charged. Evaristti, who said he and his family had received numerous threats, does not expect the piglets to be returned. The use of animals in artwork is frequently criticized. In 2017, the Guggenheim in New York pulled three works involving animals from an exhibition by Chinese conceptual artists after protests and an online petition signed by more than half a million people. In 2000, Evaristti displayed 10 goldfish in individual blenders in a Danish museum and allowed visitors to turn on the machines. Some did. Animal rights groups were divided over Evaristti's latest exhibition, with some agreeing with his message but not his method and presentation. A review from a Danish newspaper slammed the exhibition as 'old-fashioned avant-garde.' Mathias Madsen, a campaign manager for Anima International Denmark, said in a statement that the organization had reported Evaristti to the police when he announced his plans to starve the piglets to death. 'This would violate multiple sections of the Danish Animal Welfare Act, and we wanted authorities prepared to intervene,' Madsen said, adding that the strong public reaction to the exhibition was a reminder that people find animal suffering unacceptable. There are about 5,000 pig farms in Denmark that produce approximately 28 million pigs annually, according to the Danish Agriculture and Food Council. Many are slaughtered, with more than 70 percent of the pig meat exported to countries within the European Union. Birgitte Damm, the chief consultant for farm animals and mink for Animal Protection Denmark, said about 25,000 piglets die each day in Danish stables, some from starvation, because the country's sows are bred to birth 20 piglets but have only 14 teats. 'We completely understand the indignation, frustration and even anger over the continued abuse of millions of pigs in the Danish pig industry,' Damm said about Evaristti's exhibition. 'This has been going on for decades, and it is completely unacceptable. However, we cannot allow three individual piglets to suffer in order to make our point.' Evaristti said his idea for the exhibition came from reading a newspaper article about the topic around October. 'I knew that something was wrong in Denmark, but I didn't know that it was so bad,' he said. On Monday night, he faced a critical question: What now? He said that an exhibition without the piglets would be 'boring' and 'plastic,' before he shut it down altogether on Tuesday. 'If you take your heart from your body, you cannot exist, only as the body without soul,' he said. 'My exhibition doesn't have a soul anymore. It's only a body and I'm not interested in representing a body. I want the soul with the body.'
