A ‘cow’ntroversial art installation at the ongoing Jaipur Art Summit that was meant to raise awareness about the health of cows, landed its makers in trouble.
The Bovine Divine, depicting a cow made of Styrofoam suspended by a balloon, brought its makers under the police’s radar, after some protestors complained against the “negative message” that the installation was sending.
Artistes Anish Ahluwalia and Chitan Upadhyay were asked us to lower the installation to the ground and were later taken to the police station where they were kept for around two hours.
The message of the installation, its creators say, was to depict visually how cows end up consuming plastic from piles of garbage scavenging for food and eventually die from it.
But this message was lost on the police and the protestors, who brought the cow’s installation down, worshipped and garlanded it, and later dismantled it.
Jaipur Police, that came under fire for its treatment of the two artists, was forced to apologise after Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje stepped in and expressed her displeasure over the incident.
Earlier, police officials had dismissed the explanation that was offered by the artists about their work trying to raise awareness about the harmful effects of polythene on cows.
The way the cow was hanging in the air...it was only sending a negative message.Bajaj Nagar Police Station SHO Mahendra Gupta
Artistes from 12 countries are participating in the summit, where about 260 works are being displayed over the course of five days beginning November 21.
Meanwhile, Shailendra Bhatt, founder-director of the summit, called the attack by cow worshippers on an installation about saving the cow, “ ironical”
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