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A work exhibited at the Jeonnam Provincial Museum of Art was embroiled in an animal cruelty controversy, and part of the work was eventually demolished.
The Jeonnam Museum of Art has been exhibiting the special exhibition 'Mourning: At the End of Loss' since the 30th of last month.
This exhibition is to trace the process of sublimation to overcome the psychological pain that occurs to individuals such as infectious diseases, wars, and various natural disasters. About 10 domestic and foreign artists participated and presented 54 works.
The controversial work in this exhibition is 'Fish' by Youbuck, who is famous as an 'insect artist' in Korea, and is an installation work with a goldfish in a Ringer's bottle.
Writer Yoo explained that as time passed, the goldfish gradually died, expressing the violence and duality within humans.
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However, viewers who saw Yoo's 'Fish' expressed their uncomfortable feelings.
While some spectators inquired to volunteers, "Do you feed the goldfish?", they learned that goldfish were slowly dying inside Ringer's disease, which led to protests.
When some animal rights groups raised concerns, the museum eventually recovered all the goldfish in Ringer's bottle.
A total of 15 goldfish were initially exhibited, of which 5 died.
An official from the Metropolitan Museum of Art said, "The art museum functions as a plaza and also produces discourse.
Artist Yoo said, "I explained that the dying of the goldfish over time is a process of the work, but the goldfish disappeared and the meaning of the work was lost." express,” he explained.
On the other hand, artist Yoo has been drawing attention from the art world for a long time by using insects as a subject to express nature groaning at human violence.
(Photo=Courtesy of Jeonnam Provincial Museum of Art)