Zhu Yu (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zhu Yu (b. 1971[1]) is a performance artist living in Beijing, China. His work deals with subjects of morality.

Yu's most famous piece of conceptual art, titled "Eating People," was performed at a Shanghai arts festival in 2000. It consisted of a series of photographs of him cooking and eating what is alleged to be a human fetus. [2] One picture, circulated on the internet via e-mail in 2001, provoked investigations by both the FBI and Scotland Yard. [2] The piece's cannibalistic theme caused a stir in Britain when Yu's work was featured on a Channel 4 documentary exploring Chinese modern art in 2003. [3] In response to the public reaction, Mr. Yu stated, "No religion forbids cannibalism. Nor can I find any law which prevents us from eating people. I took advantage of the space between morality and the law and based my work on it". [3] Yu has claimed that he used an actual fetus which was stolen from a medical school. [4] Close scrutinization of the picture would seem to indicate that it was in fact assembled from the head of a doll attached to the body of a duck, though this cannot be proven. [2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "'Artist' Eats Baby On TV." (January 2, 2003). Sky News. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
  2. ^ a b c Mikkelson, Barbara. (June 19, 2001). "Fetus Feast. Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
  3. ^ a b "Baby-eating art show sparks upset." (January 3, 2003). BBC News. Retrieved July 8, 2006.
  4. ^ Rojas, Carlos. (2002). Cannibalism and the Chinese Body Politic: Hermeneutics and Violence in Cross-Cultural Perception. Post Modern Culture, 12 (3). Retrieved July 8, 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Reports of Contemporary Cannibalism in China (pics)


Persondata
NAME Yu, Zhu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Chinese conceptual artist who caused great controversy with a project that featured what appeared to becannibalism.
DATE OF BIRTH 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH China
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
 This Chinese biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This artist-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.