Rape is not art.
edit: I should have been more careful and looked up the validity of this before posting about it. Turns out it was a hoax! Thanks Shawn.
I can’t believe this…
“Richard Whitehurst, a Columbus-based artist, has constructed a 6.7 meter plywood tunnel opening onto a secret room to go on view at Columbus’ 4D Gallery on October 30th. He said for the duration of the gallery’s opening, he will rape anyone who travels through the tunnel into that room.”
— news.com.au via twitter.com/Raisins
I really don’t understand some of the stuff that passes for art these days. Rape is not art. However, is this really even rape? The installation is set up so that Whitehurst isn’t raping anyone who happens to be passing by, victims would have to consciously decide to participate by walking/crawling through his specially constructed tunnel before emerging into the room where he’s waiting. Of course, it becomes rape when someone decides in the middle of it that they want to stop, and Whitehurst continues anyway. This seems likely to happen, in Whitehurst’s own words:
“I want to make it clear that I plan to make the experience as unpleasant as I possibly can to anyone who dares to crawl through the tunnel. I will try to the best of my ability to make them regret their decision.”
Read the article at news.com.au to learn about Whitehurst’s previous installation, where he broke the nose of an aspiring model after she walked through his “Punch You In The Face Tunnel.”
