In May, the director of Denmark’s Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding was acquitted of animal cruelty charges that stemmed from a bizarre installation at the museum.
Chilean-born Danish artist Marco Evaristti set up ten blenders that contained goldfish and gave visitors the “ethical choice” to turn the machines on or not (as depicted in the photo from Reuters).
Inevitably, somebody chose to turn on one of the blenders, police confiscated the exhibit and fined museum director Peter Meyer US$315 for animal cruelty.
But after a two-day trial in May, Judge Preben Bagger acquitted Meyer of the animal cruelty charge. Bagger ruled that since the goldfish were killed instantly by the blender, that their deaths were humane and not cruel.
Correction: When this story was reported in the media, the fish involved was repeatedly described as a goldfish. But the fish depicted in the Reuters picture above is clearly not a goldfish. Presumably either the artist or the media in Denmark did not look closely at the species of fish used in the installation.
Source:
Dane acquitted in goldfish blender case. The Associated Press, May 19, 2003.
Liquidising goldfish ‘not a crime’. The BBC, May 19, 2003.