Maybe suicide would have been an even more artistic way “to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body.”
UPDATED! Because I was right.
No, I could not let this one pass; I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more emails about an article than this one. :
Art major Aliza Shvarts ‘08 wants to make a statement.
Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.
The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts’ project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock, saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.
But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for “shock value.”
“I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts said. “Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it’s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.”
The “fabricators,” or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.
Shvarts declined to specify the number of sperm donors she used, as well as the number of times she inseminated herself.
The display of Schvarts’ project will feature a large cube suspended from the ceiling of a room in the gallery of Green Hall. Schvarts will wrap hundreds of feet of plastic sheeting around this cube; lined between layers of the sheeting will be the blood from Schvarts’ self-induced miscarriages mixed with Vaseline in order to prevent the blood from drying and to extend the blood throughout the plastic sheeting.
Schvarts will then project recorded videos onto the four sides of the cube. These videos, captured on a VHS camcorder, will show her experiencing miscarriages in her bathrooom tub, she said.
Mmkay. Right then.
I believe that what this dipshit claims she did is simply not true. First of all, I know of no “legal and herbal” abortion drugs that work like she says. Second, artificial insemination is also not going to work that easily, especially when you’ve thrown your body into hormonal stress by becoming pregnant even once and then inducing miscarriage. Third, the simple math involved with when a woman is fertile versus how likely it is that artificial insemination would “take”, there is no way she could have done this more than 2-3 times, which means there would not be anywhere near enough blood and dead fetus to smear around in “hundreds of feet” of plastic sheeting.
So basically, I call bullshit. If there is actual human blood in the sheeting, I bet you a million bucks it’s her menstrual blood. Which, EWWWW.
(And in case you were wondering, which you were not, this chick is a grade-A moron. There’s video of her screeching in a big rotunda about the “fucking insti-TOOO!-tion” of the “patriarchal heteronormative” to an audience of about 20 people, half of whom I’m pretty sure wanted to break her face.)
God, what I would give to be locked alone in a room with this psychopath and some numchuks, if she really did do this. What I’d really just have to INSIST she tell me is exactly what impregnating yourself and giving yourself abortions says about the relationship between art and the human body that couldn’t have been said even better - and far more effectively, daringly, and artistically - by killing herself. She could enlist some friends to smear her blood and body parts all over on plastic and project the video of her death onto the walls.
You know, to make a point. To inspire discourse.
But like I said, I don’t think she actually did it. However, she remains a dipshit with extreme dipshit tendencies because like everyone’s saying, her “project” is a horrific trivialization of abortion and is the sort of thing that will have the exact opposite effect on people than what she expects. If I were a pro-choicer, I would hate this bitch the way I’d hate Al Sharpton if I were black: that is some piss-poor representation you’re giving us there.
I agree with some commenters - I need an Asshole Bell Curve graphic. I’ll make one so I can plot people like this scientifically but for now, I’m thinking Aliza Shvarts is roughly 3.5 standard deviations above the mean.
UPDATE: Future warlord David Colborne (commenter Oatworm to those in-the-know) of blogospheric reaction, including the best one-line description of Aliza Shvarts (wonder if that rhymes with farts?):
In short, she’s just an overgrown two-year-old, shitting her pants and wanting someone to marvel at her odor.
David would rather not, and I would rather not, and I think we both feel a little dirty even giving the little psychobrat any attention at all, but people! It is too easy!
ANOTHER UPDATE: Not the “point” of the project but the crazy bitch’s original claims that she’d impregnated herself and aborted. Somehow it doesn’t mitigate her asshole level too much.
We’ll need to redefine our statistical nomenclature. I say this chick is 3.5 standard dingleberries over the mean.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:10 pmFirst of all, I know of no “legal and herbal” abortion drugs that work like she says.
Er, I do, but let’s leave that alone. Dangerous stuff with potentially fatal consequences. I strongly suspect a hoax. Or someone who seriously needs some psychiatric care. Or both. She be one sick puppy.
On somewhat of a tangent, whenever I have to listen to some ZPG-greenie go on and on about reducing the population on earth to “save the planet,” I make it a point to offer to supply them with a plastic bag and a rubber band so they can demonstrate just how strong their convictions really are.
In almost twenty years of offering, I haven’t had a single taker yet.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:20 pmNah, this woman falls into a whole separate mathematical category.
Error Function.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:20 pm“Patriarchal heteronormative.” Heh. That’s almost as good as “the Antidisestablishmentarianism of public education in Great Britain between World Wars I and II.” Only, antidisestablishmentarianism doesn’t set off my spell checker the way heteronormative does. Which is further proof that Ms. Shvarts is full of shit.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:21 pmshe didn’t even do it the fun way.
but I bet you’re right about the menstrual blood. And also, do you have to have Hep vaccine to view or get near the exhibit?
April 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pmWhat a way to further her cause.
And, just for the record, I would NOT hit it.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:28 pmWhat, no comments about how she is a student at Yale? From UC Berkeley I would expect this, but YALE? Almost seems like some sort of litmus test of the sanity of our country…
April 17th, 2008 at 5:29 pmShe made a statement with her art alright, but a much more personal one about her own mental faculties and the academic standards at Yale instead of her intended statement.
It is really upsetting to even think about - joke or no. Some of us WANT to get pregnant and even the idea that she would so callously take a precious life is disgusting.
I think she needs psychotherapy…maybe shock therapy…and lots and lots of prozac.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pmI’m so old, I remember the days when “artist” was a label one applied to others, and would never apply to themselves. Then again, I’m so old, I remember when artists actually .
April 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pmOh…and SO glad you’re going to do the asshole bell curve. That is just freaking awesome! I’m a geek at heart. =D
April 17th, 2008 at 5:32 pmShe may be Yale material, and studying there.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:33 pmHowever, There’s a long and justifiably-hallowed
tradition of being skeptical about art majors.
I think the hardest work in some of the projects
is coming up with an explanation of just what the
project means and why we’re supposed to “feel” the
way the artiste intended.
Ya know….a scant few years ago, when I was a college student, a girl like this would have had a net thrown over her. After they took her away, people would talk about how sad it was, but in a little while, she’d be forgotten about.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:34 pmBut in this f-ed up world…she’s a STAARRRRR!!!!!! She’ll wallow in the media attention and have all her crazy ideas validated. Then some other crank will get the idea that it’s cool to spew all your dysfunctional bullshit all over everyone….
I was thinking a bit more (my head now hurts lol) and I’m even more angry about this moron’s actions. I read another blog of a woman who was forced to have an abortion at the age of 14 (it was her father’s baby - she was molested for 17 years!) and she creates some truly horrific drawings as therapy. But they are ART. She is expressing her terror, pain, emotion…it is raw and painful to view but it has a purpose. Yes it is graphic and disturbing but it is purposeful and artistic.
This Yale idiot is just doing this to get attention. I agree that decades ago she would have been hauled off to the loony bin. But you know. Everyone has their own reality now a days and who are we to say someone else’s reality is wrong?
Gag me.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:40 pmAs a commenter on Michelle Malkin’s site has so aptly pointed out about this whole disgusting story, the only good thing to maybe come out of it is that this idiot may have permanently screwed her uterus over and may never now reproduce. Which, I think we can all agree, is a good thing.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:53 pmThis comment was on , and it summarized my feelings about these types of “artists” in general:
April 17th, 2008 at 5:54 pmshe probably didn’t have that option…
natural selection in action, baby!
why am i so cynical and callous…
April 17th, 2008 at 6:00 pmAttempting to determine level of asshatery…
Asshatery = (Level of stupid attention whoring)/(Level of intelligence)
RESULT: Divide by 0.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:01 pmDoes it make me a bad person that now I kind of want to see the video just to see how awful-fakey it is?
I’m one of those that doesn’t believe for a second this is the real deal. Too many logistical problems, too many medical problems, too many hormonal problems.
Like so many of these morons, she hasn’t figured out that provoking a reaction does not mean you’ve done anything intelligent or even new. As with the two-year-old, making civilized adults angry at your bad behavior is not a high-order skill. At best, it DELAYS discussion so that everybody can clean up the mess.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:22 pmWhy is it that people with no discernible talent like to paint on things with body fluids and call themselves “artists”? My kids used to do that when they were in the pre-potty training stage, but they outgrew it when they began to ambulate freely, unlike this moron.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:27 pmYou’re right. I am pro-choice and I feel true loathing for this woman. I’m also usually against violence but for this bitch. . .
April 17th, 2008 at 6:38 pmAh, thank you, as always, for the attention and bloggy hits that thou hath bestowed upon me. Thy will be done. Praise Hail Xenu!
April 17th, 2008 at 7:09 pmWell, we see that Yale, reacting at the speed of light, has issued a statement that Shvarts’ little project was a “hoax.” Sure, Yale, if you say so. But that’s not really addressing the core of the issue, although they will pretend it is.
I also note that Shvarts’ advisor has yanked that video off of YouTube. A bit overexposed, what?
April 17th, 2008 at 7:30 pmYou may run your blog as you choose, but I think you mis-categorized by putting this in “Girl Stuff.” This is no girl, this is no woman, I’m not even sure it’s human.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pmOh, come on Rachel, it’s art. You know, like the Pieta.
/
April 17th, 2008 at 8:12 pmI think you make a good case for it being a hoax, and I pray you’re right. Even if it is BS, it is still one of the most repugnant stories I’ve ever seen.
The ‘artist’ in your earlier post about the flags is a run-of-the-mill asshat but Shvarts is truly depraved. However, what can we expect when so many in our society glorify sociopathic behavior?
April 17th, 2008 at 8:22 pmI read this earlier this morning and thought “is this for real?” (a) if it is, she is sick and (b) if it isn’t, she is sick. Conclusion…she’s sick.
Love David Colborne’s comment…
Couldn’t have said it better myself
April 17th, 2008 at 8:26 pmWow, I love how we’re all just supposed to go, “Oh…” and move along, now that Yale has admitted this was only some stupid girl’s idea of “performance art.” Well, golly, I guess that makes it all okay then!
It’s good to know that this repugnant twit didn’t actually, ya know, like, get pregnant mulitple times, like, on purpose to just, ya know, abort multiple times, like, because she is so dedicated to her “art” that she’d actually, like, kill for it. But I do hope the Yale alumni and other donors to the school take note that THIS is the kind of crap their alma mater considers to be an acceptable senior art project.
Huzzah for Yale! In one fell swoop, they’ve trivialized abortion, pregnancy, and motherhood, in general. They’ve also insulted all the women who have suffered actual unwanted miscarriages. Not to mention that they’ve given fresh ideas to even more loathesome “artistes” for use in their own future shockworks. All the while minimizing the sanctity of life, indulging the childish excesses of an obviously deeply troubled girl, and giving a pass to the girl’s utterly incompetent advisor. Now they seem surprised that anyone could believe for a moment that this might have been anything more than mere “performance art”. Or as the Yale spokeswoman, Helaine Klasky put it, “Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”
Duh… ya think?
So then, why in the hell would they APPROVE such a work of “art” in the first place? And aren’t they at all troubled by the fact that so many people, knowing the standards of today’s “art” world and the cluelessness that defines many of our colleges, found it so easy to believe?
April 17th, 2008 at 8:34 pmDollars to donuts this cupid stunt is a product of gummint indoctrination centers, or some kind of progressive private skool where white people with too much money and the attendant KawKayJun Guilt Complex® send their spawn to be socialized.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pmPop Quiz: Is she supporting Obambi or Shrillary?
Just in case y’all didn’t get to read the exact quote from Yale:
Yes, the fact that she faked this is a sign of stable mental health.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:05 pmArt majors rate on the useless scale just above anything with “Studies” at the end of it. Four years of useless shit to become a professional anarchist. Isn’t that what most of these people become anyway?
April 17th, 2008 at 9:19 pmAt the Tate Gallery (London), ten years ago, I saw an exhibit by some guy. Everything he disposed off after use (not poop or poop-smeared toilet paper, Thanks God!) from his bathroom for one whole year was forced into a glass container, was an exdhibit.
Michelangelo had nothing on this guy.
Chet
April 17th, 2008 at 9:30 pmWhat are the odds that she received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts?
April 17th, 2008 at 9:31 pmYour tax dollars at waste.
What? She couldn’t get the local abortion clinic to donate actual aborted fetuses?
Anybody else as bewildered as I am by “performance art” as a medium? Regardless of the subject matter or “message,” I can appreciate the medium of the painter, sculptor, photographer, songwriter, poet, and even the actor (barely). But the “performance artist”? I don’t get it. Such a useless exercise of human energy.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:41 pmDamn. I was all set tonight to make up a blog post about this and echo your sentiments that it’s a hoax. I figured we’d see a story on Monday confirming that.
Too late.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:46 pmOh, now that sends a tingle up my leg.
Sounds like her exhibit might qualify as a Superfund clean-up site.
Yech.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:07 pmLance Salyers:
No, you do get it. “Performance art” (please note quotes) is pretentious twaddle and it is not art. The emperor has no clothes!
(I say this as one who has been a professional graphic designer for about 30 years and does painting and calligraphy in her spare time.)
April 17th, 2008 at 11:19 pmThe art world has gone batshit crazy, at least in the “fine arts” field, ever since about World War I. That said, commercial art has seldom been better—I go to SF cons on a regular basis and see lots of beautiful paintings.
This idiot and her professors are Exhibit A for a massive purge of the universities. I used to not understand why Chairman Mao and his merry men did that, but considering what a bunch of dingalings they are, a few years of “learning through labor” in the laogai would do this bitch a ton of good.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:46 amLance, it works like this:
No discernible talent + boundless need for attention = performance art.
Sadly, some people don’t have access to the resources of a modern major research university, and have to settle for doing something to get themselves on COPS instead.
April 18th, 2008 at 8:58 amEvery time I see , all I can think of is And not in a good way.
This level of mental illness didn’t spring forth fully formed from the brow of Zeus, so I’d like to take this opportunity to give her Dad a cyber-kick to the nads. ‘Cuz “patriarchal heteronormative” is just Yale-speak for “Daddy Issues.”
Aliza, the reason no one takes you seriously isn’t because you are a woman. It’s because you are an “Art Major” with no artistic ability that can be discerned by the non-”Art Major” world. The only thing that goes through my head when I am forced to view the crap that qualifies as “Art” to the Shvarts of the world is, “Man, I’m glad the six-year-old stopped coloring on the walls.”
Julie mentioned the Althouse commenter that said, “Why doesn’t she just get a job as a stripper, like any normal exhibitionist?” Well, I’d pay good money for her to keep her clothes on. Double if it would keep her from talking to me. That picture of her on the soapbox reminds me why I quit drinking tequila back in college.
Rick
April 18th, 2008 at 9:21 amMalkin’s reporting that she DIDN’T lie. She’s refuting the college administrators and saying she did in fact do what she claims.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:22 amI don’t think the art world has gone crazy, it only that all you hear about are these childish asshats who are begging for attention.
They are the Code Pink of the art world. No one would think to assume all women are like those psycho monsters but they like to think they represent all women.
Most artists do it because they love it. They do put their personal message into their work, but that message is usually just about how they see the world, not this political crap that was thought up in the liberal arts department and allowed to spread to the studio classes.
No, actually most of us become either REAL gallery artists like my wife, or like myself go into a field that we love - game design, graphic arts, industrial design, web design. I picked game design.
Look around your computer, most of the stuff you see had some design input by an artist -a real one - not one of those mindless twits that give the rest of us a bad name.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:24 amNot sure if it’s irony or the results of that high-dollar liberal-arts education so lacking in basic scientific foundation, but if she truly wanted “to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body,” shouldn’t she have at least the most basic understanding of her own body enough to realize that what she says she did isn’t biologically possible? But don’t listen to me, I’m just patriarchially hereonormative.
April 18th, 2008 at 9:44 amAnd bitter.
But are you clinging to your guns and religion? That’s the real question.
And as for your question I bet I can answer for her - “YOU CAN’T UNDERSTAND BECAUSE YOU A MAN!” *cue mindless screaming*
April 18th, 2008 at 10:00 am“the only good thing to maybe come out of it is that this idiot may have permanently screwed her uterus over and may never now reproduce. Which, I think we can all agree, is a good thing.”
Can we nominate her for a Darwin Award then?
April 18th, 2008 at 10:01 amPull my finger, Ms. Shvarts, it’s 14:59.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:12 amheteronormative
April 18th, 2008 at 10:33 amDamn. Hate typos.
Yes, clinging to the guns. In church, even.
Oh, good. I would hate to think I was the only one
April 18th, 2008 at 10:35 amIf art is really a way to connect or communicate with me, the work shouldn’t need a label to tell me what it is. Okay, so if it’s a portrait I appreciate the plate that tells me it was some duke or duchess, or if it’s a city being burned to the ground it’s nice to know what city it is. But I shouldn’t need a label to tell me whether it’s a landscape or a portrait of a dog. Sorry, I’m only impressed by artists who started by doing the hard work of learning how to draw.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:42 amAccording to the latest on Michelle Malkin, the “student” is still saying she DID inject herself & have the abortions. It’ll be interesting to see what ultimately happens. Sounds like Yale may be trying to CYA over something that really went out of control.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:31 amThanks, Instinct! I was going to say, one of my best friends double-majored at UW(Seattle) in degrees from their CS department and Art school. Up until the last year or so he was in the game industry doing UI design (long time at Monolith). Now he’s working on Microsoft’s “Surface” project (aka the “Big Ass Table”).
April 18th, 2008 at 11:45 amActually it wasn’t exactly a lie:
April 18th, 2008 at 1:39 pmRachl, please. They’re NUNCHUCKS. Otherwise, spot on.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:20 pmI’ve been an herbalist for a few years now, and I know a little bit about this.
I’m not going to give very specific information, because frankly I don’t want to give anyone a recipe for it. But concoctions to induce miscarriages DO exist and they are pretty “safe” for the woman. All they really do is induce abdominal muscle cramps and cervical dilation. But they can cause a miscarriage if used “correctly.”
No herbal remedy I’m aware of is injected. They are either taken internally or applied to the area in question. You don’t inject herbal remedies because they are by nature less precise and they are not sterile. If she’s claiming to have injected herself with an herbal concoction, she’s a liar or a complete idiot. Possibly both.
April 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pmI’m gonna go with ‘BOTH’ on that one Kit
April 18th, 2008 at 3:11 pmI think the “injection” refers to the (alleged?) method of conception, not the route of drug administration.
Why the hell did I even bother to clarify that? I don’t have any interest in legitimizing the
April 18th, 2008 at 3:29 pmmess.
Anyone who has ever had miscarriages or who has ever tried to get pregnant would know immediately that this whole thing was a hoax. I’m amazed at the ignorance of basic biology and the female reproductive system exhibited by those fine Yale minds, not to mention the credulous press who initially took the story at face value. You can’t get pregnant “several times” over nine months, especially if your ovulation cycle is messed up from a miscarriage.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:23 pmSue,
Most likely the result of wide-spread misunderstanding of exactly how artificial insemination works. They think “Hey, artificial insemination helps women get pregnant when normally their bodies won’t let them, therefore…..”
April 18th, 2008 at 6:04 pm