tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951361.post3720535011501273870..comments2024-03-26T11:20:35.560-04:00Comments on Daily Campello Art News: Lennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15335261603489770267noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951361.post-11648116891311530242008-11-11T13:38:00.000-05:002008-11-11T13:38:00.000-05:00Here is an update for you, straight from Nicaragua...Here is an update for you, straight from Nicaragua. Additional notes for future reference - every CA country has its own bienal, from which several artists are nominated to represent their country at a larger pan-CA bienal. You all have not heard of them because some are new, most have few resources, and not all have websites, and not in English. BUT the art is innovative, cutting edge in a way that´s shocking given the poverty of the countries.<BR/><BR/>I am an artist and animal activist living in Managua, Nicaragua. Since learning about this case I have been working to do something about it, both with artists and animal activists here and abroad. After months of research, communication, and action, I can report the following, good, bad, and unclear:<BR/><BR/>NEW ACTION TO PROTECT ANIMALS IN NICARAGUA: <BR/><BR/>The petition and concern of so many of you has helped us here on the ground gain attention for all the other horribly neglected and mistreated dogs on the streets and in homes.<BR/>• Humane Society International has pledged to collaborate with the Animal Protection Association (APA) of Nicaragua on their agenda of education, free or low-cost spaying and neutering and medical treatment, and continued work to improve legal protection.<BR/>• WSPA is funding the UCC veterinary school to vaccinate and treat thousands of animals in poor neighborhoods.<BR/>• A family foundation in the US has pledged to donate several thousand dollars to support the work of the APA.<BR/><BR/>YOU CAN HELP!!! <BR/>• Please donate to HSI's Street Animal program either online at<BR/>o https://secure.hsus.org/01/hsi_don_humane_animal_control and then write an email to info@hsus.org telling them the amount of your donation and that you want it used in Nicaragua. <BR/> <BR/>• Better yet, send a check and write in the memo line that you wish the funds to be used in Nicaragua.<BR/>Mail to Humane Society International<BR/>2100 L Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 USA<BR/><BR/>HSI will send funds to APA, the local and very competent organization, and we will be able to fight for animal welfare here. It is an uphill battle.<BR/><BR/>OR<BR/>• Donate directly to the Animal Protection Association of Nicaragua, a growing organization with programs in legislation, education, and direct animal care.<BR/>• ASOCIACION PROTECTORA DE ANIMALES/APA.) en BANPRO:<BR/> <BR/>Account number for Dollars: 10021015624326<BR/> <BR/>APA can be contacted at apanimal@hotmail.com<BR/>web page www.geocities.com/apanimal<BR/><BR/><BR/>THOUSANDS OF DOGS SUFFER HERE EVERY DAY: <BR/>Natividad was far from alone in his plight as a neglected, abused animal. <BR/>• The poverty and cultural norms regarding animals are such that I see starving, ill dogs in the street several times a day, sometimes run over.<BR/> <BR/>• Many dogs with homes are kept tied up on short chains all day and mistreated in order to make them aggressive guard dogs at night. As in the case mentioned above, food or water may be withheld, animals are beaten, and trained to attack with little provocation.<BR/> <BR/>LEGAL PROTECTION CURRENTLY A FARCE: <BR/>• A friend discovered there actually was a law on the books to protect animals. Unfortunately, no department of government has responsibility or budget to enforce it. <BR/><BR/>• Some artist friends and I spent hours on several days in the police station trying to report a woman for deliberately starving and neglecting her 2 dogs, and no one knew what we were talking about, even when we showed them the text of the law. <BR/><BR/>• Since this law only came into effect in the last month, there really was nothing in place under which to prosecute Vargas. <BR/><BR/>• Several NGOs have submitted better legislation to the National Assembly, but say it has been watered down by interests in favor of allowing cock, dog, and bull fighting as part of the 'national heritage'.<BR/><BR/>BIENNALE HOLDING FORUM ON ETHICS IN CONTEMPORARY ART<BR/>The Biennale organizers´is holding a forum today and tomorrow designed to ¨reflect and debate the ethical dimension of contempotary artistic practices and their sociocultural repercussions¨. Vargas will participate, along with artists from all of Latin America. Unfortunately I could not be there because my passport was stolen. I hope the proceedings are available, and that other artists are clear in their denunciation of cruelty toward animals or people as part of art.<BR/><BR/>RELATED HUMAN TRAGEDY: Vargas named the dog he caught Natividad after a Nicaraguan man named Natividad Canda, who was torn apart in Costa Rica by 2 guard dog rottweilers, and onlookers, including police, did nothing to save him. All of those potentially reponsible for his death were recently acquitted, igniting a firestorm of Nica-Costa Rican accusations of racism. Nicaraguans are the cheap labor of Costa Rica, and often experience discrimination.<BR/><BR/>Thank you all for your concern and outrage. Please help us support local initiatives to reduce cruelty and improve the welfare of animals in Nicaragua<BR/> <BR/>A GRAND MANIPULATION?: What Vargas actually did to the dog. Several sources from the local art world's inner sanctum, who are also animal protectors, told me Vargas started the horrific stories himself, and that all the upset and controversy were a manipulative part of his 'work of art' about the relative attention to scandal of 1 street dog vs. 1 indigent Nicaraguan man . Hence they have decided not to give him one more iota of the attention he seems to crave, at the Bienal or afterwards, and to work independently on behalf of animals.Jessica Hirst / Palmer Fishmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608441336020804994noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951361.post-59467236698732266742008-05-06T18:06:00.000-04:002008-05-06T18:06:00.000-04:00Thanks for providing some of the clearest informat...Thanks for providing some of the clearest information on this very muddy subject. I got the petition over the weekend and it really shook me, and so I started doing "research" on the internet, to find out what the whole story was, and it just gets more and more confusing. I hope that, in the end, it is all a hoax and this Habucuc dude makes an art piece out of the petitions and articles, etc. Even if it is a hoax, it's pretty darn manipulative, but it certainly does reveal a very raw nerve; human nature is such a strange thing, and this artist has tapped into it. I think there's only so much we can care about and respond to - if we tried to be affected by everything, we would go mad. So yes, in a way it reveals our hypocrisy but hopefully also our enduring ability to rally and be moved to action.<BR/>I also have to say, I will never think of Beuys' I Like America and America Likes Me the same way again.Naomi Sachs, ASLA, EDAChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08658368250330732259noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951361.post-87499431414459872562008-04-26T12:33:00.000-04:002008-04-26T12:33:00.000-04:00This kind of "art" is absolutely ridiculous and ma...This kind of "art" is absolutely ridiculous and maddening!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com