Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Stop before someone gets hurt!

janosch

23:36 / 28.06.01

I remember reading an article 5 years or so ago about a group of "artists" working in the UK who, for a fee, would enter your name in a sort of lottery. On a certain date the lucky winner was kidnapped and kept prisoner (tied to chairs, shouted at etc.) for a week or so. Did this organisation actually exist and did they succeed in carrying out a kidnapping? Any other examples of such extreme art? Is it ethical? (I would say absolutely not.)

Unencumbered

04:24 / 29.06.01

I can't see any ethical problem with this, provided the 'victim' has genuinely entered into it willingly, but this is open to abuse. I can think of a few names I'd submit!

janosch

04:42 / 29.06.01

The victims' willingness to sign up was not in question, but they were forbidden from speaking to anyone else about what might happen to them and they were unable to stop the process once it was underway. I have no problem with consenting adults doing whatever they like to each other in private, but in a situation like this there is, I would say, a large chance of something going nastily wrong. It's not like you can stop halfway through a police raid and say "Sorry Miss, we were only playing".

Unencumbered

19:19 / 29.06.01

True, but if you consent to something knowing that you can't withdraw your consent later, then that's fine. If you decide halfway through that you don't like it, more fool you for consenting in the first place.

Having said that, this practice would be illegal in many countries, including the UK, where (legally speaking) you cannot consent to assault. If someone asks me to, for example, cut their ear off and I do, I'm still guilty of assault.

Fengs for the Memory

13:28 / 03.07.01

It was the KLF.

janosch

21:53 / 04.07.01

Really???? Do you have any sources?

Add Your Reply