Patterico's Pontifications

4/17/2008

Art and Life at Yale (Updated)

Filed under: Abortion,Education — DRJ @ 12:52 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Yale Art major Aliza Shvarts will do anything for her art:

“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.”

Reaction to her project has been mixed.

UPDATE – The Yale Office of Public Affairs has posted this statement at its website:

“Statement by Helaine S. Klasky — Yale University, Spokesperson
New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008

Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.

She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.

Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”

I may be wrong, but I picture Aliza as the poster child for precocious, creative, free-spirited children of parents who never said “No.”

H/T Anonymous Yale Student.

— DRJ

66 Responses to “Art and Life at Yale (Updated)”

  1. Althouse and others suspect that this may be a hoax. I dunno.

    Beldar (848a05)

  2. “Althouse and others suspect that this may be a hoax. I dunno.”

    Too late. I already vomited in my mouth.

    Dana (b4a26c)

  3. yuck!

    assistant devil's advocate (bc3cc9)

  4. Oh yeah, this is definitely a hoax. Those “herbal” abortion drugs don’t work well enough to do this, and artificial insemination isn’t something you can succeed at 100% of the time. It would take many, many years to do what she did, and she’s probably have several complications.

    She talks about her “message” without actually telling me what it is. Is it supposed to be obvious? Does anyone know what her message is? If it is that we are over-educating the idiots in our soceity, and Yale has lost much of its prestige, and some Americans are infected with selfish vanity and a lack of dignity, I think she does a very good job.

    I don’t think she has a message, though. She’s just trying to distress people and get as much attention as she can. At least she’s not shooting up her school, I guess.

    Jem (4cdfb7)

  5. Jem, whether a hoax or not, one must agree this is perhaps one of the most pathetically desperate attempts for attention. Apparently this person wasn’t breastfed long enough or was spanked too much or just pull one of the usual suspects out of the hat.

    Oh, or its Bush’s fault.

    Dana (b4a26c)

  6. the good news is that if she actually *did* do this, there’s a good chance she’s screwed herself up so she can’t have a kid later in life.

    score one for the gene pool!

    redc1c4 (292479)

  7. I wonder if she applied for a government grant?
    And worse, was it granted?

    Another Drew (f9dd2c)

  8. It’s entirely possible there was a mix of normal periods and aborted children– as folks have mentioned here, they’re not that effective; as folks have mentioned elsewhere, if she “inseminated herself” and just had “friends” donate, that’s not THAT effective for causing pregnancy.

    I think I’d start looking around her home, apartment, wherever she’s staying for dead animals or suspicious piles of dirt….

    Foxfier (74f1c8)

  9. Either way, she’s one sick puppy.

    nk (6b7d4f)

  10. As far as I’m see, her message is “I’m an idiot who has wasted someone else’s chance to study for four years at Yale.”

    htom (412a17)

  11. Preview doesn’t work unless you actually read it. c/I’/I/

    htom (412a17)

  12. She should have Levi do a reading of his posts here while the video is playing.

    Jack Klompus (cf3660)

  13. What a freak.

    Leviticus (b987b0)

  14. Oh, or its Bush’s fault.

    Well, in a way it is. He’s an alumnus. He could help ensure the school doesn’t admit total idiots like this young lady, or fellow art major Juan Castillo. And that it doesn’t have people on its faculty such as the advisor who approved this “project”.

    kishnevi (4fe729)

  15. Assuming she isn’t lying, one has to admit that if her “art” leaves her dead or sterile she will have gone the extra mile for her Darwin Award.

    M. Scott Eiland (b66190)

  16. I just received this email:


    Statement by Helaine S. Klasky — Yale University, Spokesperson

    New Haven, Conn. — April 17, 2008

    Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials. She stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages. The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body.
    She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art.
    Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns. (http://www.yale.edu/opa/)

    Anonymous Yale Student (827b97)

  17. “…Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”

    Do you think?

    Another Drew (f9dd2c)

  18. a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body…

    what ambiguity is that?

    assistant devil's advocate (c45ea8)

  19. Even as a stunt, the words “attention whore” are too kind.

    jpm100 (b48b29)

  20. ada and I agree on something!

    JD (5f0e11)

  21. they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”

    Sounds like Levi’s kind of girl, except I doubt he knows anyone smart enough to get into Yale.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  22. I picture Aliza as the poster child for precocious, creative, free-spirited children of parents who never said “No.”

    I would say Aliza is the poster child for children whose parents think they are precocious, creative, and free spirited, and therefore never say “No”.

    A truly intelligent and creative person of any age would have realized the absurdity of this project and found a better way of getting across the point. Whatever the point of the project was–I’m still not sure what that was.

    But I think in expressing the justified contempt for this girl, we’re not giving her advisor, who approved this project, a fair share of the blame.
    It is, after all, part of an advisor’s job to tell the enthusiastic artist, “Maybe you should come up with a better plan.” Instead, she let her do it.
    Aliza can, at least, plead the inexperience of youth. What excuse does the advisor have for her stupidity?

    kishnevi (e741fe)

  23. What excuse does the advisor have for her stupidity?

    Maybe Aliza didn’t tell the adviser the whole story. She does seem to have a creative approach to the truth.

    DRJ (a431ca)

  24. We’ve got a generation or more of young people who are astonished to learn that the world does not revolve around them, and petulant about it.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  25. DRJ, was the title of this post inspired by the title of William F. Buckley’s first book?

    Come, confess!

    Paul (4ca58a)

  26. Aliza may not be suffering from the inexperience of youth at all. If her goal was to grab name recognition she was successful. Also, it looks like the blurb was submitted by an Anonymous Yale Student. hmm.

    Maybe she’ll take her Viral Marketing Art to a big Manhattan agency, or a small boutique of creative thinkers.

    Vermont Neighbor (629f2e)

  27. Paul,

    Absolutely. Titles are sometimes my favorite part of blogging.

    DRJ (a431ca)

  28. On a similar but unrelated note, today’s paper has a Front Page story featuring the legal work of our host and proprieter. That on top of a mention in the WSJ law section just a few weeks ago.

    Daily Breeze front page: 4-17-08 (Patterico)

    Vermont Neighbor (629f2e)

  29. I think this “art student” is just an unbalanced ninny, not representative of art students, Yale, or anything else.

    Vermont Neightbor/28: Thanks for the link. Those cases are tough in many ways, but based on my experience, our host got a very, very good court result.

    –JRM

    JRM (355c21)

  30. Vermont Neighbor and JRM,

    Our host is a good guy, isn’t he?

    DRJ (a431ca)

  31. See-Dubya,

    Yale said this:

    “Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”

    Now that Aliza says it’s true after all, doesn’t Yale have to refer her for mental health counseling?

    DRJ (a431ca)

  32. How ironic and puzzling that the National Abortion Rights League objected to Shvartz’s art, uh, freedom of expression, right to choose what is art.

    Dana (270a01)

  33. One thing I can say, this is NOT art!

    It’s also not porn!

    The gene challenged woman that did it will have to actually put a proper label on it.

    Art, NO,, Science, NO, Porn, NO. One really fucked up mind with a dildo and horse hypodermic fetish? Possible.

    Grant seeker? way too possible, actual acceptor of such a grant, scary!

    Keep rewarding Yale with donations ya’ll!

    TC (d16524)

  34. Now the question becomes which (if any) of the statements by Yale and the “artist” are part of the performance, and which are just silliness? Are they all idiots, or was someone trying to save her from herself?

    (OT: I’m a little surprized at the judge and photos, but some drivers just live on a different planet than the rest of us, and I can understand. Congrats, Patterico, you may have saved more lives today, at least for a couple of years.)

    htom (412a17)

  35. “One thing I can say, this is NOT art! ”

    best post.

    stef (bd740e)

  36. Don’t be an elitist, stef.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  37. Aliza is a poster child for spoiled brats. Her advisors are poster children for the elimination of tenure.

    Ken Hahn (7742d5)

  38. “Don’t be an elitist, stef.”

    I think its a performance piece. But she’s just the writer/director. The performers are here,on the web and on TV. That post was one of the better performances. Look at Michelle Malkin — posting paintings of cowboys. How overwrought. Its better here. On the whole it is kind of predictable and boring. But it is a young medium (outrage) and she is a young artist. I’ve enjoyed it.

    stef (57aa5a)

  39. That says a whole lot about you stef, and none of it good.

    JD (75f5c3)

  40. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t normally enjoy the outrage-du-jour style of discourse. But this one was good. She must be playing her fiddle, not like Nero — Rome hasn’t burnt, alas — but playing it she is. Bravo.

    stef (4daa88)

  41. NOW, you get it.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  42. Rome hasn’t burnt, alas.

    Spoken like a true Obama patriot.

    Xrlq (b71926)

  43. Feh! We’ll see her on a street corner someday dressed in filthy rags and mumbling incoherently at passersby.

    nk (6b7d4f)

  44. Plus, the twat totally pwnd NARAL. That, you’ve got to admire.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  45. Look at Michelle Malkin — posting paintings of cowboys.

    That’s not Malkin, it’s See Dubya. And if you don’t understand the context or the point of his posting the work of another Yale art alumnus, it’s OK to say so, stef.

    Pablo (99243e)

  46. But it is a young medium (outrage) and she is a young artist. I’ve enjoyed it.

    Hmmm…so perhaps someone should travel to a place with which we have no extradition treaties and violently rape some children. Then perhaps they could return with bits of them…blood would be wonderful, but torn tissue and locks of their hair seem obvious…and put them all together into a big phallic statue with some candle wax, wire hangers and, of course, video to project upon it.

    You’d like that, wouldn’t you, stef? Because of the outrageousness. All in the name of art. Think of the discussions we’d have!

    Pablo (99243e)

  47. But last night stef was saying this was not art.

    ““One thing I can say, this is NOT art! ”

    best post.”

    Today she proclaims it is art? Like jello she is.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  48. “That’s not Malkin, it’s See Dubya. And if you don’t understand the context or the point of his posting the work of another Yale art alumnus, it’s OK to say so, stef.”

    Oops. I didn’t notice that she had guest posters. I am starting to waffle though. Maybe there’s a brilliant irony in including a painting from the 1800s in the outrage-fest. The overwroughtness is winning me over. Linking to a page that calls it “art” — in quotes, AND includes the factoid that she was valedictorian? Fab. This may yet overshadow comment 34, but it is the work of themore professional and practiced.

    stef (947b9a)

  49. “But last night stef was saying this was not art.”

    I just said that was the best post. Not that I agree with its opinion.

    stef (947b9a)

  50. You sound like Obama, stef.

    daleyrocks (906622)

  51. Ever see “triumph of the will”? People like it but dont agree with its opinion at all. Pretty simple.

    stef (91d11d)

  52. [One more time.]

    Are you serious, stef? Are you equating this freak with Leni Riefenstahl? Do you have dogs playing poker on a velvet background hanging in your home?

    [Is the comment server separate from the post server?]

    nk (6b7d4f)

  53. “Are you serious, stef? Are you equating this freak with Leni Riefenstahl? ”

    No. I’m not “equating.” I’m not even talking about “this freak” when I mention triumph of the will. I’m talking about the person who wrote:

    “One thing I can say, this is NOT art! ”

    Because I liked it. Even though I do not agree with it. Like people like “triumph of the will” even though they do not agree with it.

    stef (1730d4)

  54. stef argues like alphie used to.

    JD (75f5c3)

  55. Because you liked it? Is that the definition of art these days? In that case the most primitive bodily functions would be art. Do you find beauty in this #$%^ (which, I submit, is the sine qua non of art)? An appeal to the higher emotions? A challenge to the intellect? Something that should be promulgated and preserved? Bottom line — that it raises the human race a fraction of a micron from the primeval slime?

    nk (6b7d4f)

  56. stef is but a shining example of Post-Modernism, the Sixties, and the Feel Good – Do It movement (I just had one of those, and I remembered to wash my hands afterwards, too).

    Another Drew (8018ee)

  57. This student was part PT Barnum, part rebel.

    I think many people are offended by the potential of what she did (or what she claimed to have done). It’s a little extreme, but in the final wash it’s all about publicity. It wasn’t a quiet show in the campus art wing. It was a media hand job.

    Vermont Neighbor (629f2e)

  58. How ironic and puzzling that the National Abortion Rights League objected to Shvartz’s art, uh, freedom of expression, right to choose what is art.

    I’m honestly curious – why?

    NARL isn’t an arts group. I don’t actually know – maybe they’ve supported arts or some such. Even if they did, that doesn’t mean they should support every group who might agree with them on policy issues. So why would should it be puzzling that a disturbing (true or not) performance art piece might not be something they want to support? This seems even sillier than the criticism of the ACLU – NARL is, as far as I understand it, pretty narrowly focused, more like the NRA. Agree with them or not, it I’m not seeing much call for hypocrisy claims here.

    There are now conflicting claims, but I tend to assume, but based on admittedly weak understanding, that this was unlikely to have worked, should she have done what was initially claimed. I’m willing to be proven wrong. The work was disturbing. Lots of things called art are disturbing, bad, or both, not unlike food, cars, policy, lawyers, soft drinks and personal fashion. Or issues of the DI’s latest attempt to look academic, to make this a little more topical (that’s performance art, too).

    fishbane (ae1247)

  59. NARAL is indeed a single-issue group, but their absolutist stance makes them more analogous to GOA than the NRA. If some idiot student had made an “art” project out of a series of intentionally inappropriate uses of firearms, the NRA would either ignore the guy or condemn him, but GOA would counter the popular outrage by asking what they always do: “What part of ‘shall not be infringed’ don’t you understand?!” That’s the kind of response I have learned to expect from NARAL on anything tangentially related to abortion: “What part of ‘[unintelligible]’ don’t you understand?!”

    After all, as bad as this “art” project may have been, does anyone seriously believe it is worse than fetal homicide?

    Xrlq (62cad4)

  60. Iowahawk nails it with this parody of the old “art school” ads.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  61. That’s the kind of response I have learned to expect from NARAL on anything tangentially related to abortion: “What part of ‘[unintelligible]’ don’t you understand?!”

    I think that demonstrates that NARAL has a more nuanced approach to the issue than you have learned to expect from them.

    I can’t actually speak to the GOA’s approach, as I know nothing about them.

    After all, as bad as this “art” project may have been, does anyone seriously believe it is worse than fetal homicide?

    That, of course, depends on how one feels about the promotion underlying issue. You say “fetal homicide”, I say “sloughing of cellular symbionts”. This college student made a statement about reproduction and autonomy. That doesn’t make the “art” any better, but it does explain why people freaked out about it, and didn’t freak out about a case of actual abortion, of which I’m sure many happened on the same day.

    fishbane (ae1247)

  62. Fishbane, you need to learn to lie better. Either you can advance the lie that NARAL is into nuance, or you can advance the lie that fetal homicide is nothing more than “sloughing of cellular symbionts.” One lie or the other, not both.

    Xrlq (62cad4)

  63. “Because you liked it? Is that the definition of art these days?”

    You’re still not getting it. What I liked was the person who wrote:

    “One thing I can say, this is NOT art! ”

    Though I am leaning more towards see dubya and his posting of 1890s cowboy paintings.

    stef (1bf27e)

  64. Apparently this story is not over yet:

    “Yale University followed through on its warning Tuesday and banned a student’s “abortion art” project from the opening of a campus exhibit after she continued to deny that she fabricated shocking stories of multiple inseminations and self-induced miscarriages.”

    DRJ (a431ca)

  65. So…

    She’s saying she didn’t make up stories…

    So the stories she told were true?

    SO confused, and so disgusted. Totally off the idea of dating a college chick now…

    Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec)


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