No. 52 (Part Two): Guggenheim Curators on the Controversy Surrounding Their New Show

On September 20th, the New York Times published a preview of the Guggenheim’s latest show “Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World.” One particular video work—Peng Yu and Sun Yuan’s Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other (2003), in which pit bulls bred for dogfighting were restrained and placed opposite each other on treadmills—quickly ignited a firestorm of controversy. On September 25th, the museum announced that it would pull the piece (along with two others that incorporated animals) from the exhibition. On Tuesday, Artsy sat down with show curators Alexandra Munroe and Philip Tinari to discuss the Guggenheim’s response, the artists’ reactions, and what these events will mean for museums going forward.