Exactly a year ago, reports emerged that a giant inflatable dog dropping broke free of its moorings in a wind storm and damaged a children's home in Switzerland.
To be honest, a chance to write a lede like that is usually enough to get this reporter out of bed in the morning. But the news is that the museum that initially put the massive canine lawn biscuit on display has since decided not to continue the exhibition by artist Paul McCarthy -- despite this globally celebrated anniversary.
McCarthy specializes in large scale, but subtly titled sculptures (such as "Santa Clause With a Buttplug"). During a storm at The Paul Klee Centre in Berne, Switzerland, McCarthy's delightful "Complex Shit" installation sent a house-size canine loaf crashing through town -- knocking out power lines and leaving Berne in darkness before slamming into a children's home. This reporter longs to read the insurance report authorities filed the next morning.
In the trying days since the fecal assault, the museum has disavowed McCarthy's work -- and the town has rebuilt. While the traumatized community has moved on, there's no word if Swiss officials used a gigantic scooper during clean-up.
McCarthy describes his one-time Swiss miss as "interweaving, diverse, not to say conflictive emphases and a broad spectrum of items to form a dynamic exchange of parallel and self-eclipsing spatial and temporal zones."
But, it's obviously a big load of crap.
Image courtesy PaulMcCarthy.com
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