San Francisco Committee Pushes to Criminalize Art That Harms Animals

SAN FRANCISCO—A committee in San Francisco's city government has introduced a bill that would allow criminal charges to be brought against artists who cause “the death, abuse, or suffering of an animal” for an artwork, or against their financial backers, reports the Art Newspaper.

The move follows heated debate over a video installation by Algerian-French artist Adel Abdessemed at the San Francisco Art Institute that showed six farm animals being slaughtered. The show was closed after only one week, because the artist, curator Hou Hanru, and other SFAI staff received death threats from animal rights activists. The institute argued that the video simply documented traditional food production methods in Mexico and involved no gratuitous violence.

San Francisco city commissioner Christine Garcia, who wrote the bill, said, “If you allow forums that find this type of work acceptable, more people will produce it and can gain fame from the suffering of animals.” The bill, which is not yet in its final draft, must go before the city legislature before it can become law.