Yale senior 'induced abortions on herself' for art project...

By Fresh
in Real World News

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Grand Master

Fresh

Posted
Posted

For senior, abortion a medium for art, political discourse

Site must be getting Hammered.....it was down for a bit...now slow as crap.

Art major Aliza Shvarts ?08 wants to make a statement.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself ?as often as possible? while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts? project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock ? saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.

But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for ?shock value.?

?I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,? Shvarts said. ?Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it?s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.?

The ?fabricators,? or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.

Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself.

Art major Juan Castillo ?08 said that although he was intrigued by the creativity and beauty of her senior project, not everyone was as thrilled as he was by the concept and the means by which she attained the result.

?I really loved the idea of this project, but a lot other people didn?t,? Castillo said. ?I think that most people were very resistant to thinking about what the project was really about. [The senior-art-project forum] stopped being a conversation on the work itself.?

Although Shvarts said she does not remember the class being quite as hostile as Castillo described, she said she believes it is the nature of her piece to ?provoke inquiry.?

?I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity,? Shvarts said. ?I think that I?m creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be.?

The display of Schvarts? project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts? self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.

Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said. Similar videos will be projected onto the walls of the room.

School of Art lecturer Pia Lindman, Schvarts? senior-project advisor, could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Few people outside of Yale?s undergraduate art department have heard about Shvarts? exhibition. Members of two campus abortion-activist groups ? Choose Life at Yale, a pro-life group, and the Reproductive Rights Action League of Yale, a pro-choice group ?? said they were not previously aware of Schvarts? project.

Alice Buttrick ?10, an officer of RALY, said the group was in no way involved with the art exhibition and had no official opinion on the matter.

Sara Rahman ?09 said, in her opinion, Shvarts is abusing her constitutional right to do what she chooses with her body.

?[shvarts? exhibit] turns what is a serious decision for women into an absurdism,? Rahman said. ?It discounts the gravity of the situation that is abortion.?

CLAY member Jonathan Serrato ?09 said he does not think CLAY has an official response to Schvarts? exhibition. But personally, Serrato said he found the concept of the senior art project ?surprising? and unethical.

?I feel that she?s manipulating life for the benefit of her art, and I definitely don?t support it,? Serrato said. ?I think it?s morally wrong.?

Shvarts emphasized that she is not ashamed of her exhibition, and she has become increasingly comfortable discussing her miscarriage experiences with her peers.

?It was a private and personal endeavor, but also a transparent one for the most part,? Shvarts said. ?This isn?t something I?ve been hiding.?

Source

Does this not seem wrong on so many levels?

Grand Master

maplecookie Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Oh my gosh. I can't even put into words how much I believe this is a horrible horrible idea. Abortions are available to those who are in need of them. Those with health problems, those who maybe were raped, kids who aren't ready to be parents and this stupid girl just makes light of it all with her "art project".

Grand Master

MGS4-SS

Posted
Posted

So many people focusing on what the project was not about.

I congratulate her for telling everyone else "**** you" and doing it (and really, it wasn't against the law, so who the hell really cares?)

*Cue highly conservative/religious response*

*Cue abortion discussion*

Grand Master

Angelic Marge

Posted
Posted
The display of Schvarts? project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts? self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.

Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said. Similar videos will be projected onto the walls of the room.

Oh that is disgusting, why would any sane person want to see something like that?

Grand Master

digipoi

Posted
Posted
So many people focusing on what the project was not about.

I congratulate her for telling everyone else "**** you" and doing it (and really, it wasn't against the law, so who the hell really cares?)

*Cue highly conservative/religious response*

*Cue abortion discussion*

*I sense possible donor getting offended?*

Grand Master

Angelic Marge

Posted
Posted
This guy makes some pretty good points and thinks it is a hoax - who knows?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-h...-art-claim-scam

Well if it's not that woman needs help as do the people who go to see her so called art

Grand Master

Lt-DavidW

Posted
Posted
So many people focusing on what the project was not about.

I congratulate her for telling everyone else "**** you" and doing it (and really, it wasn't against the law, so who the hell really cares?)

*Cue highly conservative/religious response*

*Cue abortion discussion*

:blink:

Your opinion sickens me.

Grand Master

Aaron Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Ok, yeah she's lying. Or wait - performing art.

http://www.nysun.com/news/national/yale-st...reative-fiction

The Yale Daily News reported this morning that Aliza Shvarts?s senior project, set to go on display next week, included video of her bleeding in her bathtub, as well as plastic sheeting layered with a mixture of Vaseline and the post-abortion blood.

"Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art," a Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky, 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."

Ms. Klasky went on to suggest that Yale would not have permitted a project of the sort described in the student newspaper. "Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns."

Grand Master

shakey_snake

Posted
Posted

:rolleyes:@ this crap.

ROBERTA: What do we have here, Margaret?

MARGARET: It's a tampon in a teacup...

Class GIGGLES.

ROBERTA: I can see that... now what can you tell us about it? First of all, what kind of sculpture is this?

MARGARET: It's a "found object"... that's when an artist takes an ordinary object and places it in an artistic context and thus it becomes art.

ROBERTA: Very good. Now, what can you tell us about it in regard to your artistic intent?

MARGARET: I guess I see the teacup as a symbol for womanhood, because of tea parties in the olden days, but instead of tea I was trying to kind of confront people with this... like...

ROBERTA: This shocking image of repressed femininity!

MARGARET: Right, exactly!

ROBERTA: I think it's really a wonderful piece, Margaret!

Grand Master

digipoi

Posted
Posted
:rolleyes:@ this crap.

ROBERTA: What do we have here, Margaret?

MARGARET: It's a tampon in a teacup...

Class GIGGLES.

ROBERTA: I can see that... now what can you tell us about it? First of all, what kind of sculpture is this?

MARGARET: It's a "found object"... that's when an artist takes an ordinary object and places it in an artistic context and thus it becomes art.

ROBERTA: Very good. Now, what can you tell us about it in regard to your artistic intent?

MARGARET: I guess I see the teacup as a symbol for womanhood, because of tea parties in the olden days, but instead of tea I was trying to kind of confront people with this... like...

ROBERTA: This shocking image of repressed femininity!

MARGARET: Right, exactly!

ROBERTA: I think it's really a wonderful piece, Margaret!

Everything is art when you take LSD. Frickin bozos I tell ya.

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