More animal abuse in the name of art. Sickening.

[Guest guest]

Just when we thought we had a victory by convincing the Biennale to prevent the "starving dog artist" from participating, now this. I am sick to my stomach. Is this art? A Sydney exhibition: A film showing a live chicken being decapitate d- A preserved dead horse hung by a saddle from the museum's ceiling. Tell them this is not art. Please send an email to the Biennale of Sydney ,

and tell them what you think about this:art Also on display is the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's Novecentro - a preserved dead horsehung by a saddle from the museum's ceiling. A spokeswoman for the Biennale insisted the horse died of natural causes. http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.au/articles/1248376.html?src=topstories Wednesday, 18 June 2008 Is this art? Kylie Davis A Sydney exhibition featuring urine-soaked clothes and video of self-mutilation disgusted visiting police this week. In the wake of the controversy over Bill Henson's photographs of naked girls recently, police were heard telling organisers on the opening day of the modern Arts Festival Biennale on Cockatoo Island in Sydney that the exhibits required a much stronger warning at the entrance. Biennale organisers said the visit from officers

from Balmain Police was routine "to discuss arrangements for the opening night party" on the island tomorrow evening. The officers, who visited the installation of controversial Sydney artist Mike Parr, were heard expressing astonishment and disgust. The works by Parr, hosted in the dilapidated and derelict sailors' quarters, feature video pieces of self-mutilation and installations of urine-soaked clothes. A warning appears at the entrance of the exhibit, which is a collection of Parr's work from 1972 to the present, stating that viewers need to

be over 18 and that the exhibits are graphic, including dead birds. Police were heard telling organisers the warning sign was not explicit enough. One black and white video shows Parr holding his finger over a candle until the pain becomes unbearable. A second involves stitching his face with a needle and thread while a third has him vomiting a toxic blue dye. "The police were here to discuss tomorrow's

party arrangements," an organiser said. "They did not have a problem with the art, they had worked in homicide and had seen much worse." Parr's work, according to the program, seeks to denounce the brutality of the world we live in. The exhibition, which includes a film showing a live chicken being decapitated, has prompted a complaint to the RSPCA. The film is being screened in a derelict building on

Cockatoo Island as part of this year's Biennale of Sydney, which opens today. It is one of 17 works by Parr included in a confronting show called Mirror/Arse, which documents his "most daring and demanding" performances and explores "trauma and subjectivity". A sign hung at the entrance to Parr's show in the island's former sailors' quarters warned visitors that the work was not suitable for anyone under 18. But one visitor was so disturbed by the footage of the chicken being killed that a call was made to the RSPCA, which contacted NSW Police. Responding to the complaint, several officers from the Water Police visited Cockatoo Island yesterday, viewed Parr's exhibit and asked for the warning sign to be upgraded to include more details of the show's contents. "We asked for the warning to be upgraded in the public interest," said senior constable Michelle Heyward, one of the officers from Marine Area Command in Balmain who visited the island. "It said visitors needed to be 18 or over, but it didn't say what you'd be seeing. We asked them to be more specific." Constable Heyward said the initial report

suggested "a male was decapitating chickens on the island". In fact, Parr's film was shot in the 1970s, part of his quest to present what the Biennale's publicity material calls "poignant artworks where the viewer is confronted with revolting situations". The police officers who visited the exhibition yesterday were overheard expressing astonishment and disgust at work, which includes footage of Parr sitting in a chair slicing his arm with a blade and holding his index finger over a lit candle until his skin burns. In other works he is shown having the flesh on his face stitched with a needle and cotton thread, and vomiting what appears to be blue dye. Constable Heyward refused to give her opinion of the work. "I can't say on a personal level because I'm in uniform," she said. Marah Braye, the chief executive officer of the Biennale, said organisers were "looking into the matter" of upgrading the sign. "Mike Parr is a well-respected and admired artist of international standing and the [biennale's] artistic director has included his work because she believes his practice has made a significant contribution to contemporary art," she said. Contemporary art's longstanding ability to arouse controversy will be underlined at this year's Biennale by another exhibit, Western Christian Civilisation by the Argentinian artist Leon Ferrari. Made in 1965 as the United States began to bomb Vietnam , it combines two elements into a large sculpted model of Christ being crucified, not on a cross but on the wings of an American fighter aircraft. The work, which was censored in Argentina , is the first exhibit greeting visitors to the Biennale at the Museum of Contemporary Art . Also on display is the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's Novecentro - a preserved dead horse hung by

a saddle from the museum's ceiling. A spokeswoman for the Biennale insisted the horse died of natural causes. The exhibition goes from June 18 - September 7. It is free at venues across Sydney . For details of events go to bos2008 http://pets.Fortheanimals7/join http://www.myspace.com/fortheanimals7