How far have the boundaries of art been stretched? So far that an attendee at an art exhibit who witnessed a stabbing thought it was performance art.
The Associated Press notes via Fox News that the incident took place at Art Basel Miami Beach, an extension of a contemporary art fair held each year in Basel, Switzerland.
It is unclear what precipitated the fight yesterday, which left one of the combatants with knife wounds to the arm and neck, but Miami Beach Detective Kathleen Prieto told the Miami Herald that one witness thought the victim’s blood-soaked clothing was a prop. Others thought the police tape cordoning off the area was an art installation.
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The fight occurred near an exhibit by Miami-based “feminist” artist Naomi Fisher whose works have been called controversial. One of her better-known creations, “Booty Bouquet,” appears below:
Whether Fisher’s art had any role in the fight is unknown.
A spokeswoman for the exhibit, Sara Fitzmaurice, told the AP in an email:
The attack was an isolated incident that was immediately secured. Our thoughts are with the victim.
The woman’s injuries are said to be non-life threatening.
As for life being mistaken for art and vice versa, in October a modern art installation in Bolzano, Italy, was assumed — understandably — by a cleaning crew to be trash.
