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Podcast

The Artsy Podcast, No. 52 (Part Two): Guggenheim Curators on the Controversy Surrounding Their New Show

Artsy Editorial
Oct 12, 2017 9:57PM

Artsy’s team of editors takes you behind the scenes of the best stories in art.

You can find the Artsy Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or the podcasting app of your choice. Don’t forget to rate the show and leave us comments; we’d love to hear from you.

This is Part Two of a two-part episode. To hear Part One, you can listen here.

On September 20th, the New York Times published a preview of the Guggenheim’s latest show “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World.” One particular video work—Peng Yu and Sun Yuan’s Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other (2003), in which pit bulls bred for dogfighting were restrained and placed opposite each other on treadmills—quickly ignited a firestorm of controversy. On September 25th, the museum announced that it would pull the piece (along with two others that incorporated animals) from the exhibition.

On Tuesday, Artsy sat down with show curators Alexandra Munroe and Philip Tinari to discuss the Guggenheim’s response, the artists’ reactions, and what these events will mean for museums going forward.

This podcast is hosted by Artsy Associate Editor Isaac Kaplan, joined for this edition by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum senior curator Alexandra Munroe and director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Philip Tinari. It was produced by Associate Editor Abigail Cain.

Intro music: “Something Elated” by Broke For Free

Cover Image: Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Dogs that Cannot Touch Each Other, 2003. Courtesy of the artists.

Artsy Editorial