Yale Student Turns (Maybe) Abortions Into Art Project
In Wednesday's issue, the Yale Daily News featured the grisly details of a senior art project by Aliza Shvarts, a Yale art student who, over the course of nine months, artificially inseminated herself multiple times while also trying to induce miscarriages.
The story quickly spread across the Internet and was picked up by Drudge Report, which temporarily felled the Yale Daily News website. Its proliferation across the Web caused an unsurprising amount of shock and disgust, summed up well by the IvyGate blog: "I think I saw this, once. In a horrible, horrible nightmare."
The problem? It's a hoax. Or wait. Maybe it's not.
Confusion reigned after the Yale public relations office posted a notice on its site that said, "She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman's body."
Shvarts, however, disputes the school's claim, saying she has no idea whether she was ever impregnated and whether she ever actually miscarried. "No one can say with 100-percent certainty that anything in the piece did or did not happen. The nature of the piece is that it did not consist of certainties."
Shortly after that statement, the school responded, saying that the art student had motivation to make that statement. "Her denial is part of her performance," wrote the school's spokeswoman. "We are disappointed that she would deliberately lie to the press in the name of art."
Back to Shvarts: "I'm not going to absolve [the university] by saying it was some sort of hoax when it wasn't. I started out with the University on board with what I was doing, and because of the media frenzy they've been trying to dissociate with me."
So what's the truth? No one knows, so I guess that's the point. But one thing's certain—people are up in arms about the whole thing. Plus, it surely made a visit from their Ivy League brethren all the more timely: The Harvard Task Force on the Arts came to New Haven Monday to study the school's dedication to the arts. "Yale has for a long time had a very deep and serious engagement with the arts," said a task force member. "It is a model for how a university can take arts-making seriously."
Tags: abortion | Yale University
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Art Ethics
Hell. that was a short conversation... I guess Death performances have moved to a higher plane...
Art Ethics is Inevitable...
Ethics is the means towards achieving Humanity…
It is essential to understanding the Creative Process and the limits to human creativity. What you fail to see is that, without ethic, Art cannot exist (the words we share in this would not exist), to say that I am "becoming part of the “piece" is to censor the intent of my participation in this conversation, and imposes the conclusion that "the piece" is appreciated simply because I addressing the controversy she is attempting to “provoke”. One might consider this reverse-censorship, but a censor none the less.
Scott, I see that you hole a degree in Fine Arts, as do I; however, though we share an academic understanding of the fundamental logic behind Aliza’s application of the Arts, it is wrong to conclude that I recognize the same in her conclusions. I am not so easily “provoked”. Her inability to express her POV with sincerity, commitment and integrity only leads me to conclude that she has no real POV in this matter and nothing tangible to share (on this occasion) with humanity,
It is not my intent to address her “work” as that of “art”, it is my intent to participate in the “Art” of conversation to promote a POV that her behavior is a true example of the destructive nature of human creativity, and is not conducive to that which is understood to be Art.
As for censorship in this forum; “all comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.” Ethics are as inevitable as the Art we choose to embrace. I challenge the precept that “Art” has no definition simply because the Human POV is in a constant state of flux; and surely, failing to discover or define does not prove that something doesn’t exist, failure is a measure of our willingness to continue in the pursuit of that thing… in this case that thing is “The Ethics of Art”.
In conclusion, my commitment to discovering Art is relentless; I am an Artist. Anything short of that dishonors the lives of the countless Artists who paved the road in search of enlightenment in the pursuit of Art and Humanity. The first question we must answer in this pursuit of Art is; what is “Art”?
Mark A Gallegos, B. F. A
Marc34me@live.com
mark, you may not like this...
but i think you're becoming part of the piece.
i'm not sure how i feel about ms shvarts' work, but i do know setting "limitations" and creating an "art ethic" is not the answer. once you censor something, you open the door to more things being censored.
do you like the ability to state your opinions on this site? would you be opposed to there being a "comment ethic" here that perhaps might hinder your from stating your opinions in full?
one of the many purposes of art is to stimulate debate and that is exactly what is happening.
scott hammond, b.f.a.
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