Real Life Situation: This piece of art features ten white Moulinex Optiblend 2000 mixers, each filled with water and containing a live goldfish. These were placed on a table and were plugged in the outlet — hence, anyone viewing the work had the possibility of activating the blender and killing the fish. Therefore, the visitors were the “judges of life or death”. [1] It was used as an experiment to raise the question of “the power humans have over animals” [1] and the role of Ethics in Art. Judge Preben Bagger, for example, stated that the fish were killed instantly and humanely, insinuating that liquidizing the goldfish is not a crime.
Although the passage states that “Evaristti did not in any way encourage the visitors to kill the fish, but left the decision to them”, eyewitnesses stated that “numerous media representatives who were present (…) virtually encouraged the visitors to press the button in order to initiate a scandal” which they ultimately achieved. According to a CNN pole, 72% (which were 30,592 votes) thought Helena was definitely not art.
