Guggenheim Pulls Animal Exhibits After 'Threats Of Violence'

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Guggenheim Museum has pulled controversial exhibits in its upcoming "Art and China After 1989" display after receiving threats of violence, museum representatives said Tuesday.

A statement released by The Guggenheim said: "Out of concern for the safety of its staff, visitors, and participating artists, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has decided against showing the art works Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other (2003), Theater of the World (1993), and A Case Study of Transference (1994) in its upcoming exhibition Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World."

The decision came after a letter sent to the museum Monday by PETA which demanded the pieces of art, which it said show animals in heavy distress, be removed from the exhibit. The displays, called "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other" and "Theater of the World," depict animals trying to fight each other and a cage with live insects and reptiles eating each other, respectively.

The PETA letter said that animals, including insects, "experience every emotion that you, I, and our beloved dogs and cats do."

The Guggenheim said it regrets "that explicit and repeated threats of violence have made our decision necessary. As an arts institution committed to presenting a multiplicity of voices, we are dismayed that we must withhold works of art. Freedom of expression has always been and will remain a paramount value of the Guggenheim."

It's unclear at this point who made the threats of violence to the Guggenheim. Patch reached out to PETA for a statement regarding the threats. A group spokesman said the Guggenheim should have pulled the displays based on "rational discourse," and not because of a threat.

"Whether anyone — PETA member or not — said something harsh or threatening, it's an indictment of the museum that they didn’t change due to rational discourse and peaceful public appeals but because of a perceived or imagined threat.

"People who engage in violent activities that others object to often throw out this claim, and we usually find it’s without merit," PETA said.

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