Professor Does A Social Experiment By Placing Goldfish In Blenders And Asking Visitors To Turn Them On

Everyone loves goldfish. They are beautiful and can be considered easy pets too, as all you have to do is take care of their food and keep the aquarium clean.

But imagine how cynical you must be to come up with the idea of a living, swimming goldfish blended into a smooth paste.

Credit: Marco Evaristti

Chilean artist Marco Evaristti, best known for his creation 'Helena & El Pascador', debuted the piece at the Trapholt Museum, Denmark, back in 2000.

The practicing architect presented visitors with 10 blenders, each filled with water and a single goldfish.

Museum-goers were then provided with a choice:

1) Press the large 'ON' button and kill the fish

2) Don't

Credit: Pexels

Trying to justify the crazy idea, Evaristti said:

"It was a protest against what is going on in the world, against this cynicism, this brutality that impregnates the world in which we live."

Although most (sane) people walked past the not-so-tempting button, at least two goldfish were blitzed into oblivion.

To explain a bit more the motive behind the artists' idea, the Museum said: 

"Is the person a voyeur, he/she excitedly observes whether others will press the button.

"Is the person a moralist he/she becomes infuriated by the fact that there is an option to blend fish.

Credit: Marco Evaristti

"Moreover, the work does not have a single, unambiguous interpretation, but it is possible to seek out the many elements that point to the differences and similarity between the masculine and the feminine."

They added:

"Masculine symbols such as Evaristti himself with military trousers (around his ankles) and a missile are overwritten by feminine lipstick and the kitchen (traditionally the woman’s domain) blenders that become murder weapons when living goldfish are placed in them.

"Goethe’s poem, The Fisherman, lay in a cupboard and served on several levels as inspiration for installation.

"From the fish in risk of being pulled out of the safe water, to the meeting with the fatally seductive mermaid – and the longing for love."