In the words of Steven Tyler in the Aerosmith song “Livin’ On the Edge,” something’s wrong with the world today.
But, in the case of this story, these seven Germans might as well be singing Kylie Minogue’s “I Can’t Get You Outta My Head,” referring to the lice they are host to in the name of art.
Last week, fellow Torch employee and Arts and Entertainment editor Megan Tower wrote about the recent story of a Yale student whose senior art project entails multiple self-inseminations followed by self-induced miscarriages: All in the name of art.
This not only sparked some anger deep within my conservative self, but also sparked a little interest in what people are calling art these days.
And boy, did I come across some head scratching ideas. Seven young artists from Berlin, Germany, have infested the parasite into their hair and are living in an Israeli museum. For three weeks.
This is not some scientific experiment to help discover more about the pesky head-crawler or invent new ways to rid them from your hair. This is an art exhibit people!
What the? Are we talking about the same contagious six-legged, breeding-bloodsucking parasite? Yep. And this has caused quite a controversy.
The Museum of Bat Yam, located in Israel, came up with a theme that centered around hosts and guests in line.
Proposals were sent in from around the world and the idea of hosting head lice won over Milana Gitzin-Adiram, the chief curator of the museum.
So now, the artists are sleeping, eating and bathing in the gallery. In Sunday’s Reuters’ article, one of the artists, Vincent Grunwald, said, “The idea is that we live in the museum as their guests, and at the same time we are hosting lice on our heads.”
But the controversy doesn’t lie behind the fact that these artists are home to cooties, it’s what the bugs represent.
Some are saying that the exhibition brings back memories of the Holocaust and Nazi propaganda, when Jews were described as “parasites.”
Apparently that was never intended by the artists. They just wanted to use this chance as a way to ask whether the word could be “reclaimed” in Israel.
Stefan Reuter, another host to the bugs, said, “We were aware that, as Germans in Israel, there was a risk we may be misunderstood, that we would open up wounds.”
Well, of course you’re going to open up wounds. Aren’t they aware that the lice feed off of small amounts of blood from the scalp? Yuck.
He added, “People ask about it -- we had one woman who came and thanked us for making such a great statement against the fascist rhetoric of German history.”
It’s too bad the statement that they are trying to make has me self-consciously scratching myself on the head.....
