This tidbit was sent to me by an un-named sooper genyus to whom I am eternally grateful. This art work came loose, brought down a power line then broke a window at a children’s home. As a piece of art I don’t find it inspired or well executed. The shock of the poo is nothing new and the photos I’ve seen don’t show good needlework, finished texture, or overall pleasing shape. C’mon this is Bern, in Europe! Not some local Community College or regional art fair. I think better results would have come from copying or consulting the work of established masters in this genre, specifically Adams of Neptune, NJ.
However, the performance aspect of Mr McCarthy’s work rolling thru town, causing mayhem and destruction adds a delightfully dangerous and surreal touch to an other wise “meh” piece. The social commentary of dog poo destroying and coming to rest at a Children’s Home makes a succinct statement about the adoration of the canine and unwanted or problem children.
Giant inflatable anythings are rather quite dangerous and prone to coming loose from their moorings. Check out this fabulous site for info on ride accidents.
Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum
Jenny Percival and agencies | guardian.co.uk | August 12 2008 11:49 BST
A giant inflatable dog turd created by the American artist Paul McCarthy was blown from its moorings at a Swiss museum, bringing down a power line and breaking a window before landing in the grounds of a children’s home.
The exhibit, entitled Complex Shit, is the size of a house. It has a safety system that is supposed to deflate it in bad weather, but it did not work on this occasion.
Juri Steiner, the director of the Paul Klee centre, in Berne, told AFP that a sudden gust of wind carried it 200 metres before it fell to the ground, breaking a window of the children’s home. The accident happened on July 31, but the details only emerged yesterday.
Steiner said McCarthy had not yet been contacted and the museum was not sure if the piece (pictured here) would be put back on display.
The installation is part of an exhibition called East of Eden: A Garden Show, which features sound sculptures in trees and a football ground without goalposts. The exhibition opened in May and is due to run until October.
The centre’s website describes the show as containing “interweaving, diverse, not to say conflictive emphases and a broad spectrum of items to form a dynamic exchange of parallel and self-eclipsing spatial and temporal zones”.