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9,000 butterflies die for Damien Hirst's art


Still Waters

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Even by Damien Hirst’s standards it was an unusual artwork – two windowless rooms swirling with live butterflies.

Visitors to the exhibit at the Tate Modern in London observed the insects close-up as they flew, rested, and fed on bowls of fruit.

But whilst the work, In and Out of Love, was praised by many art critics when it featured in the gallery’s Hirst retrospective earlier this year, it has now landed the artist in a row with the RSPCA.

Figures obtained from the Tate reveal that more than 9,000 butterflies died during the 23 weeks that the exhibition was open.

Each week it was replenished with approximately 400 live butterflies to replace those that died – some of them trodden underfoot, others injured when they landed on visitors’ clothing and were brushed off.

http://www.telegraph...-Tate-show.html

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Vile and appalling. The kind of thing I'd expect from Hurst.

I kill more butterflys than that going to work every day.

...not that I don't like butterflys...I love them...

...but the average lifespan of a butterfly is 17 days...his exhibit was up for 23 weeks...do the math...

Edited by joc
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I despise modern "Artists". Like that other twerp, Tracey Eminem. I suppose it makes a "statement" about the vacuousness of modern culture that these twerps receive vast amounts of public funding to make their Statements about whatever it is that they're supposed to be making Statements about.

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I like butterflies, it's a shame they're becoming a rare sight here, I think I saw maybe just one or two at most this summer. They don't belong in an art exhibit. At least in the wild they stand some chance of survival even though they have a short lifespan.

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I like butterflies, it's a shame they're becoming a rare sight here, I think I saw maybe just one or two at most this summer. They don't belong in an art exhibit. At least in the wild they stand some chance of survival even though they have a short lifespan.

We planted a butterfly garden.....now we have tons of them.

...but I agree...art is not 'life'...art is a representation of life.

Edited by joc
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I kill more butterflys than that going to work every day.

...not that I don't like butterflys...I love them...

...but the average lifespan of a butterfly is 17 days...his exhibit was up for 23 weeks...do the math...

These were butterflies that live in the tropics(not in a windowless room), with a 9mths lifespan ........... please adjust your 'math'.

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I kill more butterflys than that going to work every day.

...not that I don't like butterflys...I love them...

...but the average lifespan of a butterfly is 17 days...his exhibit was up for 23 weeks...do the math...

Really what species, in captivity or the wild?

What species was used here, what is the average lifespan of that species?

Some species in the Uk even hibernate, so where do you get such a broad statement from?

Did you read the article? It says many deaths were caused by those observing.

Edited by Atlantia
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Quote: '....... this work represents a throwaway approach to living creatures ......'

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LOL, he looks like a right ******.

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LOL, he looks like a right ******.

He IS :hmm:

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Didn't Hirst decorate Lance Armstrong's bike with butterfly wings for Armstrong's final TDF victory (itself totally tarnished for other reasons)

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Yep. Unfortunately, so.

http://www.bornrich....luxurious-ride/

The bottom line on all of this is that killing other creatures for our own entertainment is just wrong. There is an art to killing. But killing should never be considered art.

....and that goes for hunting as well. Yes, it does. Hunting and killing animals for fun is wrong. Oh, but we eat them the hunter says. Yeah, but you hunted them for fun...not for food.

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We planted a butterfly garden.....now we have tons of them.

...but I agree...art is not 'life'...art is a representation of life.

They're in serious decline in the bigger picture, but what you did is a very cool thing! :tu: Just need to get more people doing it. Sadly it's more to do with the really bad weather the UK has been experiencing the past few summers, so there are a lot of animals and plants suffering as a result.

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I see a ton of butterflies here in Florida, and I have to agree that them floating around in the wild is more magical than placing them inside a room. I bought the kids the butterflies in a jar toy that was all the rage a couple years ago. It is a fake butterfly that flutters around in a jar when you tap the lid. A lovely affect and no butterflies are harmed!

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I see a ton of butterflies here in Florida, and I have to agree that them floating around in the wild is more magical than placing them inside a room. I bought the kids the butterflies in a jar toy that was all the rage a couple years ago. It is a fake butterfly that flutters around in a jar when you tap the lid. A lovely affect and no butterflies are harmed!

See, that jar is art. Very cool.

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When people start doing things with butterflies and like in the other thread with poop I don't see that as art.

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I see a ton of butterflies here in Florida, and I have to agree that them floating around in the wild is more magical than placing them inside a room. I bought the kids the butterflies in a jar toy that was all the rage a couple years ago. It is a fake butterfly that flutters around in a jar when you tap the lid. A lovely affect and no butterflies are harmed!

We have one of those jars here too, it makes my cat go completely psycho. :P

But yeah, this is not art imo..its just ridiculous. I'd rather spend the day at the butterfly conservatory in Niagara Falls; it's beautiful there. They land right on you and you can view thousands of them in a much more "natural" habitat..at least moreso than in a windowless room.

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We have one of those jars here too, it makes my cat go completely psycho. :P

But yeah, this is not art imo..its just ridiculous. I'd rather spend the day at the butterfly conservatory in Niagara Falls; it's beautiful there. They land right on you and you can view thousands of them in a much more "natural" habitat..at least moreso than in a windowless room.

A long time ago I visited my sister in Coral Springs, Florida and she took me to something like that; butterflies everywhere...and flowers...you know, they kind of like flowers. Taking a butterfly, after spending much of its life in a cacoon, and imprisoning it in a windowless room is in a short word, sick.

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