Sick Use Of Pound Dogs As Art In Ireland

this is a copy of an email sent to me by a dog charity we help out from time to time. Basically they are using stray dogs as a piece showing how we've become a throwaway society.

has fierce echoes of that sick f-r who starved a dog to death for an art exhibition. at least these dogs are to be kept alive but you'd think Ireland would be above this sort of thing and claiming its raising awareness of their plight is rubbish and just a side effect of the exhibition not the goal of it.

Its exploitation of a weak vulnerable animal for their own glorification of how clever they are and i'd imagine also to raise the profile of someone who is hardly the next Dali if he's showing in Drogheda Art Centre (no disrespect to anyone from there)

An exhibition which is currently running in Drogheda Arts Centre
(DAC) features two pound dogs who are being housed in individual runs
in the gallery space. The dogs will spend approximately 8 hours a day
in the gallery and will be moved back to Louth County Pound every
night for a four week period. During this time the dogs will remain in
the stewardship of the Louth County Pound. When the exhibition is over
the dogs will go back into the pound system. No guarantee of survival
has been provided for the dogs by the artist or pound.



Louth County Pound have attested to the fact that the dogs will be
fed, watered and walked, as they would be in the pound, during their
time in the gallery. They also say the exhibition will help to raise
awareness of the issue of pound dogs. The official theme of the show,
which is called “If art could save your life”, does not have this
agenda at its heart however. A description of the artist’s message is
outlined on DAC’s website;

“…(the work) looks at the organisation of unwanted objects; objects
which are no longer of value, in this case dogs, exploring how this
experience might inform our cultural and social value system… the dogs
which are no longer of value, no longer useful or valuable, have
reached a point where they might no longer be considered to be
autonomous or even naturally occurring. The product of a human value
system, these objects without use are in a sense the waste product of
man. They have become material which has had its value extracted or to
use a popular metaphor consumed.” (Availble at
http://www.droicheadartscentre.com/whats-on/index.php?id=2#e_289)



In my opinion this exhibition objectifies dogs in a way that is
unacceptable in modern day Ireland. The need for a dog to be taken
into the pound system is quite simply a tragedy in my mind. To emulate
the scenario in a gallery setting and invite the public to come and
look and consider and walk away objectifies the dog and disregards the
animal’s fundamental right to dignity. I realise that large groups of
the public in Ireland would laugh at the concept of an animal having a
right to dignity. I also strongly believe that large and growing
numbers of individuals would agree with me. Attitudes to animals are
slowly changing in Ireland. The Lisbon Treaty’s recognition of animals
a sentient creatures who should not be treated as objects or products
has gone some way towards driving this positive agenda.



I’m not suggesting censorship. I don’t think the show should be
closed. The concept of dog pounds, abandonment and straying of dogs is
a sad reality of life in Ireland and to indirectly highlight the
situation in an exhibition is not a bad thing. But artists shouldn’t
be allowed to use dogs as a means to convey their artistic message. In
this situation why not use an audio visual installation in the gallery
space of footage taken in Louth County Dog Pound? This will very
clearly convey the fear, distress, and the tragedy that any person who
visits a public dog pound in Ireland will witness.



I feel that it is very important for animal welfare organisations in
Ireland to make a united stand against the use of pound dogs in this
art exhibition. I am calling on all animal welfare organisations to
sign up to the statement below. I intend to approach Louth County
Council, Drogheda Arts Centre and the media with this list of
organisations. I will also provide them with details from my online
petition which was set up yesterday and currently has 376 signatures.
To view the petition and its signatories follow this link;
http://www.petitiononline.com/justine1/petition.html



I would appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.



Yours sincerely,



Justine Emoe



PS I am acting as an individual and not on behalf of any one
organisation.



Statement:

We the undersigned wish to express our strong rejection of the use of
pound dogs in the current Drogheda Arts Centre exhibition “If art
could save your life”.