PETA Condemns Performance Artist Who Incubated Nine Chicks Himself
Abraham Poincheval hatched the chicks during his performance "Oeuf" at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, but it's "no cause for celebration," as the animal rights group wrote.
A French artist who spent three weeks in a glass case sitting on chicken eggs at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris has drawn protests from PETA France, whose members condemned him in an open letter last week. Abraham Poincheval, who was attempting to incubate the 10 eggs for his performance “Oeuf,” successfully hatched his first chick last Tuesday, but the sign of life was “no cause for celebration,” as the animal rights group wrote.
“He was born alone in a museum, will never meet his mother and is considered a mere object within an ‘artistic’ performance,” PETA France’s statement reads. “The use of hen eggs (and chicks) in this performance supports the suffering of sentient beings who did not choose to participate in it.
“PETA — whose motto reads in part that ‘animals aren’t ours to use for entertainment’ — notes that chicks and chickens are sentient beings, capable of feeling suffering and fear just like us, and that animals do not belong in art exhibits.”
Poincheval, who previously spent two weeks living in the hollowed-out belly of a taxidermied bear and another week cradled within a giant boulder, has an ongoing solo exhibition at the Paris museum. A description of “Oeuf” notes that this is his first performance to engage with living creatures and likens him to “Toine, the antihero of the Guy de Maupassant short story of the same name (1885), immobilized by a heart attack and forced by his wife to hatch out eggs.”
PETA France sent Poincheval a letter before he began the performance, asking him to refrain from using chicken eggs and even providing an animal-free alternative.
“Sit on some chocolate eggs to see how long it takes for them to melt,” its members wrote last month. “In this performance, you will appear to be relieving yourself in the same place where you are sitting on the eggs, like the hens themselves are forced to do in the egg industry because of a lack of space and freedom of movement.
“We would even be delighted to offer you vegan chocolate eggs if you accepted this unique proposal!”
“Oeuf,” of course, went on as planned. By last Thursday, Poincheval had hatched nine chicks (eight yellow, one brown), which the museum will send to a farm, where Poincheval’s parents live. According to AFP, his father — an inventor of pills that make farts smell like chocolate, roses, or violets — has already built a luxury henhouse for the chicks.
“I can assure you that they will never be the centerpiece of a grand feast,” Poincheval Sr. told AFP.
His 44-year-old son, meanwhile, has not responded to PETA France’s latest statement. He is reportedly exhausted but very pleased with the results of his 23-day stay in the glass vitrine, which was kept at 98.6˚ Fahrenheit. Poincheval, covered in a traditional Korean cloak designed by artist Seulgi Lee, was isolated from all human communication during that period, although his every move was on view not only to visitors but to online viewers as well, since the performance was live-streamed.
“It has been really tough for him,” a museum spokeswoman told AFP. “He has slept sitting on the eggs. It’s been a lot harder than being shut inside the rock.”
