Cai Guo-Qiang’s new work “Cai Guo-Qiang: Moving Ghost Town” was unveiled at the opening show of the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, US. The work featured three turtles on which are mounted two iPads, which showed images of ghost towns in Colorado. However, the work has angered animal rights activists; they believe that this constitutes animal abuse, with the weight harming the shell of the turtles. They specially created a petition to express their outrage, asking for the iPads to be removed from the turtles.
The Aspen Museum has responded and explained that they have always respected the freedom of expression of artists, and would ask vets to carefully monitor and check up on the animals. The turtles had already adjusted to the environment, so the iPads on their shells wouldn’t affect them, they claimed.
However, with autumn fast approaching, the temperature has now dropped to the point when the turtles will be at risk from “unseasonably cold and wet weather”. They have therefore been removed to a new home approved by the Turtle Conservancy.
