Guggenheim Museum yanks Chinese animal art exhibit after threats of violence

A controversial exhibit from China including an art installation depicting dogs encouraged to attack each other has been removed after protesters urged the Guggenheim Museum to withdraw the pieces.

The museum said in a statement that it has received repeated threats of violence over the exhibit.

More than 600,000 people signed a petition urging the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to pull the pieces.

Out of concern for the safety of its staff, visitors, and participating artists, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has decided against showing the art works Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other (2003), Theater of the World (1993), and A Case Study of Transference (1994) in its upcoming exhibition Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World.

Although these works have been exhibited in museums in Asia, Europe, and the United States, the Guggenheim said it regrets that explicit and repeated threats of violence have made the decision necessary.

As an arts institution committed to presenting a multiplicity of voices, we are dismayed that we must withhold works of art. Freedom of expression has always been and will remain a paramount value of the Guggenheim.

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