(TW, Possible animal abuse)
Through struggling with the feelings of guilt for the Latex Maid, I became very interested in art that rubs up against the threshold of the morality of art. This led me to the work of Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. I found one piece particularly challenging – Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003
“Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other” combines installation, behaviour and interaction. They chose a mixture eight, trained to be, highly ferocious, pit bulls and rottweilers and put them on a specially made treadmill. The dogs are split into groups, both sides of the room are lined with four treadmills, the treadmills are pushed together just enough so that the dogs on either end are about a foot from each other’s snouts. The dogs are constrained by a brace which holds them as they bolt at one another, yelping and barking, some dogs more furious than the others. These dogs have an incredible present antipathy for one another. One which is obviously denied.
CBW talks about the piece –
“In today’s highly competitive world, have we been manipulated by those in power to become blind, belligerent fighting dogs in the workplace, chasing our imaginary enemies all day long until we are not breathing? Meanwhile in the age of Internet, when people are confronted with controversy, we fail to communicate at all but quickly split into two extremes—left or right, unification or independence, conservative or liberal—screaming and going at each other’s throats without coming close to any consensus!”
I felt moved by this piece, but not in a meaningful way. I don’t feel like it has much to say and what is being said feels shallow and only there to prop up controversy and a hollow spectacle. Sharing this piece with friends a thought always seemed to crop up. Maybe the piece is supposed to make you think of the threshold of morality in art. Is the cruelty of art like this worth forcing people to think about the problem? Is it worth using to spread information about dog abuse in China, or the basic take that political extremes are bad? I don’t think so. I can’t find the sense in it. I think it’s hollow and edgy. The response to this piece is usually just one that upsets people, no one ends up thinking about the political or social implications, they just want to turn it off and do something else. It feels weak and boring.
I enjoy thinking about the moral threshold in art and the limits people wish to push it. I think it can be incredibly useful to help compliment a message. This piece made me feel like I had to handle the content of the Latex Maid responsibly and in a way so that it isn’t hollow or just a piece of spectacle. I think this kind of care humanises the piece.