This is Las Corbatas (The Ties), a work by the artist Moris (Israel Meza Moreno) in the Galeria Ladrón (at the time, run by artists: Marco Aviña, Wendy Cabrera Rubio, Marek Wolfryd) in Mexico City. It was part of a solo exhibition by Moris called Ensuciándose las manos uno se puede hacer rico (Getting your hands dirty can make you rich).
It is a cluster of dozens of stolen roadside memorial crosses suspended from the ceiling.
These roadside memorials are found throughout Mexico City, are made and painted by hand, by poor and working class people, and placed on a site near the location of the person’s death. Usually they are maintained by friends and family, but some are made for the anonymous victim.
Moris has removed them, stolen them, from their original sites and placed them in the bathroom of a gallery.
Literally desecrating graves.
What do you think? Is this the most unethical artwork ever made?
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Esta es Las Corbatas, una obra del artista Moris (Israel Meza Moreno) en la Galería Ladrón (en ese momento, a cargo de los artistas: Marco Aviña, Wendy Cabrera Rubio, Marek Wolfryd) en Ciudad de México. Fue parte de una exposición individual de Moris llamada Ensuciándote las manos puedes hacerte rico.
Es un grupo de docenas de cruces robadas del costado de la carretera suspendidas del techo.
Estos monumentos en carretera se encuentran en toda la Ciudad de México, se hacen y se pintan a mano, por gente pobre y de clase obrero, y se colocan en un sitio cerca del lugar donde murió la persona. Por lo general, son mantenidos por amigos y familiares, pero algunos están hechos para la víctima anónima.
Moris los sacó, los robó, de sus sitios originales y los colocó en el baño de una galería.
Literalmente profanando tumbas.
¿Qué piensas? ¿Es esta la obra de arte más poco ética jamás hecha?
David Pierce says
09/07/2019 at 16:07Brilliant idea! I might even copy it and do something similar here in Ireland when it comes to all those holy shrines.
A persons memory will last with those who remember them. I’m sure they also have a gravestone somewhere too.
Cac O'Day says
10/07/2019 at 13:55A work of art cannot be ethical or unethical, as its job is to question and transcend and critique such ideas as ethics and morality, or anything else for that matter. The unethical act would consist in where the materials came from, from which the art object was made. An artist is also a citizen subject to the law like everyone else. It is as a citizen that a person steals, not as an artist, (unless it’s part of their practice! And they are still be subject to sanction). I do not know the laws and customs governing these objects, here it would be seen as a transgressive act indictable of social breakdown. He is guilty of being unimaginative and lazy. He could have made or commissioned replicas. Did he ask permission to use them? Maybe he intends to return them. You could argue that art as a category is unethical but that is a different matter. If I went into Jim Ricks’ Truth bubble and committed hate speech as my truth would that then make it an unethical artwork? Maybe the guilt lies with the gallery for facilitating this.
Jim Ricks says
15/07/2019 at 19:05I’ll take this response as a provocation for more responses rather than at face value. Why? Because to suggest that art magically looses its responsibility to a broader audience (i.e. humankind); that ethical considerations disappear when the art object hits the proverbial gallery floor, is absurdly dangerous, and frankly academic. 2ndly, my piece In Search of the Truth is a collection of videos people voluntarily leave about the ‘Truth’ in different parts of the world. It is a platform; vehicle; tool; agency. In this case your comparison is poorly conceived.
Cac O'Day says
26/07/2019 at 14:23I wonder why they don’t respond, it’s an interesting subject and worthy of comment. While it’s tempting to get into an argument about this I respect you opinion and acknowledge you as one of the few people willing to engage with and accommodate differences of whatever shade when that difference is engaged in something creatively constructive. Just to say that responsibility to a broader audience is for me nuanced not an absolute and also that things are already absurdly dangerous and maybe art should reflect if not accommodate that at least, or show an involvement that is other that academic. Having said that the academy and academic life seems to be in crisis and embattled and academic no longer means what it used to, detached and irrelevant. Maybe magical loss of responsibility can be good for you, temporarily. Writing can be that, but than you have to live with your irresponsibility.