Jaipur: An art installation that shows a dummy cow hung against a balloon in Jaipur has sparked a row. This after activists thought that the installation was susceptible to be misinterpreted as promoting cruelty to animals.
The dummy made of plastic and hooked to a balloon was installed in the open area of the Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK), a centre of cultural and artistic activities, and was floating at a height of around 200 feet which caught attention of activists who objected and called the police.
The organisers of the event was forced to bring the installation down after the artists were heckled at the venue. The artists were also briefly detained by police.
Mahendra Gupta, SHO at Bajaj Nagar police station said, "We got a call to inform us about this installation. This is not art. There was no description on it to explain what it was trying to show. For now the artists have been taken into custody."
The organisers have defended themselves saying that the artists were trying to make a point on the harmful effects of polythene on animals.
"Message of the art work was clear that we should protect cows from plastic waste but some people objected and called police and two of our artists who argued with police were picked up," the event's organiser Vidhya Prakash said.
After the issue, we removed that installation which was made by a local artist Siddharth Karwal. It was the opening day of the five-day art summit, he said.
Suraj Soni, an activist, said, "They had hung a cow in a way that it seemed to be promoting cruelty to animals. And when so many animals are being killed in the country it sends a wrong message to hang a cow like that."
Last year also, the summit witnessed a controversy when an artist displayed his creation which was about Lord Ganesha on the toilet pot.
(With additional information from PTI)
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