Belsen was a gas.

March 14, 2006 1:14 PM

Gas chamber art shut down. Santiago Sierra whose controversial work (some NSFW, auf Deutsch) had taken a turn toward the holocaust, has suspended his latest work in response to criticism.
posted by klangklangston (13 comments total)

I hit 'next' from my blog and ended here, which is where I first saw this, but I haven't read it before and am not sure I wanna give it a frontpage "via."
posted by klangklangston at 1:16 PM on March 14, 2006

These days it seems 'outrage' is to 'challenging' art-works as the Nazi gas chambers were to Jews.
posted by Blue Stone at 1:35 PM on March 14, 2006

That would have worked better with 'offence' instead of 'outrage'.
posted by Blue Stone at 1:37 PM on March 14, 2006

interesting post, i would love to see more.
posted by nola at 1:47 PM on March 14, 2006

it shouldn't have been shut down--it was an excellent work.

(of course, doing it in Germany ensured it would be)
posted by amberglow at 1:51 PM on March 14, 2006

Because if we don’t look, it will go away.

I thought about being in a death camp when I was gassed in boot camp. I don’t think many people get the sense of it from reading about it in books. He should have used CS and taken people’s masks off. Maybe locked them in for a very brief period (emphasizing the “you can’t get out and you’re coughing” part rather than the length of time)
That’d put a nifty spin on things. Of course you would have to exclude a lot of people. But I think getting gassed would put some much needed perspective into some folks lives.
/Oh yeah, air. We need that, right. WTF was I complaining about earlier? Art? Man I had my head up my ass. Mmmmm - yeah, sure is nice, breathing.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:29 PM on March 14, 2006

Meh, Santiago Sierra is an attention whore, nothing more nothing less.

"Protest against the banalization of the holocaust" my foot.
Sierra knew exactly what kind of reaction this would provoke.

As a piece of art, I think it is roughly on the same level as painting swastikas on a Jewish cemetary. Provocative? Check. "Makes you think"? Check.
But art?
posted by sour cream at 2:51 PM on March 14, 2006

Exactly what experience are people supposed to have going in to this building wearing a gas mask?

I don't understand what makes this an excellent work. If this is art then just about anything is I guess.

I am in agreement with sour cream.
posted by a3matrix at 3:00 PM on March 14, 2006

Who was it (Marshall McCluhan) who said some years ago: art is anything you can get away with.
posted by Postroad at 3:09 PM on March 14, 2006

So, since he didn't get away with it, it's not art?
posted by breath at 3:57 PM on March 14, 2006

I'm so fucking tired of people who think that Art, to be art, must be "provocative" in some way. That attitude only exists to provide cretins an easy on-ramp to artistic credibility.
posted by slatternus at 7:02 PM on March 14, 2006

So everything is alright and the Jews are back to controling the media again (Sorry I just watched Sarah Silverman's Jesus is Magic.) J/k!
posted by j-urb at 8:05 PM on March 14, 2006

So I guess he’s not going to get funding from the NEA any time soon?
posted by Smedleyman at 11:12 AM on March 15, 2006