News

An Otago Polytechnic student caused a stir after he displayed a piece of artwork last month featuring the carcass of a dog.

The second-year student’s sculpture consisted of the remains of the dog draped over a beer crate and installed as part of an assignment at the Polytech’s sculpture studio on Monday March 19. After tears and expressions of outrage from other students and staff, the sculpture was quickly removed and the studio closed for the day.

The student, who originally claimed he had found the carcass on the side of a road, said that the installation was a “tribute” to the dead animal.

Initially it seemed to Critic that the backlash towards the artwork may have signalled that a new Vincent van Gogh or Jackson Pollock walked among us with dynamic artwork often being misunderstood in its own time. However, when it emerged that a burglary report was made to police on the weekend of March 17-18 in regards to the theft of the frozen remains of a dog, taken from a Dunedin vet’s chiller, two and two were put together and the budding Damien Hirst’s artwork began to look decidedly more illegal, and its criticism more justified.

After the police becoming involved in the incident, the student apologized to the veterinary clinic, which decided not to pursue charges. The student has since been subjected to the Polytechnic’s disciplinary procedures and will receive a formal letter in response to his actions.

On the bright side, a Polytech faculty member told the Otago Daily Times that the debacle prompted a meeting between art school students and lecturers the day after the sculpture was displayed, at which students were given a chance to debate ethical values in display art (this, presumably, was before the student’s kleptomaniac streak was revealed). However one second-year student’s parent remained concerned, telling the ODT his daughter did not need to be exposed to dead animals in order to learn, a sentiment 2,000 health science students may not share.