‘Art’ violence

To the editor:

It is with disgust and dismay that I read about the Spencer Museum of Art’s plans to sponsor Amber Hansen’s “The Story of Chickens” event, which purports to be a revolutionary examination of the relationship between people and chickens. There is nothing revolutionary about parading traumatized, caged chickens in high traffic areas, followed by a demonstration of violently beheading them, and culminating in a meal in which the public is invited to feast on the mutilated corpses of those animals.

Just as “the emperor has no clothes,” the Spencer’s superficial defense of this crude “art” project as “an artist’s right to self-expression” reflects a serious lack of cultural and moral depth. If the Spencer is touting the enormous outpouring of public outrage as evidence of a “revolutionary” project, then they are missing the point entirely: that throughout the world, all civilized people abhor gratuitous violence.

I respectfully call on the Spencer to cancel the event, or at least eliminate the slaughter of live animals and allow the chickens to be adopted by Farm Sanctuary, as well as to adopt a “no live animals” policy going forward. Otherwise, they bear lifelong responsibility for the ridicule of the Kansas arts community as a haven for antiquated, violent, and bloody animal slaughter masquerading as “art.”