Government has its good days. City officials in Edinburgh, Scotland stopped two artists from an exhibition that was to proffer to the audience cooked blood sausage made from the artists' own blood. The Scotsman reports:

Scottish artists John Beagles and Graham Ramsay were planning to slice and fry black pudding made from their own blood in a show of "live art" this afternoon. But they were forced to abandon the project after Edinburgh City Council dispatched its environmental health officers to the Royal Scottish Academy building on the Mound, the show’s organisers said. The National Galleries of Scotland, which runs the building, also read the riot act against any such creative cookery.

John Beagles, from Glasgow, insisted yesterday that the pre-cooked puddings made from two pints of the two artists’ blood will still be part of the exhibition.

"They are cooked, we will be taking them through to Edinburgh, and they may be in the fridge or sitting on the table," he said. "We will be standing over them, guarding them."

The pair will also show a film detailing how they prepared them. "There’s a film that documents the whole process, the blood extraction, the cooking and preparation."

Of course. Self-referential art always requires a film detailing the fascinating creative process of the artiste, n'est ce pas?

Kate Downie, the president of the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), stressed it was part of the society’s annual exhibition, which also includes watercolours, paintings, contemporary film and sculpture.

"....Originally they were going to be slicing it up and frying it and offering it around to the audience, not with the intention that anybody would actually eat it." Ms Downie added that the gallery’s director, Michael Clarke, also rejected any frying. She dismissed speculation that a pavement protest was planned today.

A spokesperson for the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) said: "Following a risk assessment being carried out it was felt that, in the interests of hygiene and public safety, the live performance should not go ahead. However, the NGS have no objections to the cooked product being displayed within the Body Parts exhibition and, if the cooking and preparation can be filmed elsewhere, to the showing of a short film of the artists at work."

.....The blood for the black pudding was stored after daily home visits from a nurse. Ramsay has said the show represents a mix of self-portraiture, meat products, and cannibalism.

Ah, the animal rights agenda rears its head. Meat products and human blood pudding are morally equivalent. NOW I get it.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 12, 2005 01:39 PM

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