The Rape Tunnel. No, seriously.

in Miscellaneous by negrostotle — September 30, 2009 at 11:49 pm | 17 comments

What is art? Are we art? Is “art” art?

- Lisa Turtle, Saved By The Bell

Things are kinda crazy in Ohio. Richard Whitehouse, an “artist” is making a wonderful, interactive art piece known as The Rape Tunnel. What is it? Its a tunnel…you walk through it, and then the guy tries to rape you at the end. Um…pretty artistic stuff. More from I Heart Chaos,

This is a follow up to his “Punch You in the Face Tunnel”, where predictably, you would get punched in the face at the end. He’s still getting sued over that one.

At ArtLurker, Whitehouse explains the motivation behind this work, that has both feminists and law enforcement a little nervous:

(Why rape?) Because as an artistic gesture, it’s one of the most impactful I can think of. For the past ten years Ohio’s art scene has been largely centered around a string of alternative spaces in Akron’s warehouse district, where people had been putting on art shows. At the beginning I happily participated along with everyone else but then I started to feel like it wasn’t going anywhere. It dawned on me that if the work we created had never existed the world would be no different than if it had. None of it mattered to anyone outside of our small and insignificant circle of peers. I wanted something that would have more impact.

I started to think differently about my work. In 2007 at the Seward Projects Space in Columbus, I had my first breakthrough with an installation that was to be the prototype for this current one. It was called THE PUNCH-YOU-IN-THE-FACE TUNNEL. It was the same set-up as THE RAPE TUNNEL except at the end of the tunnel I’d punch the subject in the face instead of raping him or her. The impetus was completely reactionary to the current state of art, and motivated by pure frustration.

As it turns out, I ended up breaking the nose of the third person to crawl through the tunnel, an aspiring model. She went to the hospital and eventually sued me. Her modeling career was put on hold. The civil case was long and drawn out and the matter still hasn’t been resolved. To this day she still has unpaid medical bills. The point of this long aside is that all this took place two years ago, and I’m still having an impact on this young lady’s life, something not many other artists could claim about their work.

Rape seemed like the next logical step.

So…who’s dumber. The guy who is so overly artistic that he made a rape tunnel, or the people dumb enough to walk through “THE RAPE TUNNEL” only to be raped by the artist.

Random Question: So…if a bunch of people walk through at once…is that dude just seriously getting his rape on? Does he make people stop and wait in line to get raped? Yeah…

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Tags: artists artists are retarded ohio rape tunnel

Author:

I am dude, writing as a dude, disguised as another dude

3 Comments 6 Tweets

17 Comments

griffn
2009-10-01
01:50:28
I wonder if Whoopi Goldberg thinks this tunnel constitutes rape or rape-rape. If it's a rape-rape tunnel, we should shut it down. But if it's just a rape tunnel, then that's okay.
ipekyarsel
2009-10-01
04:49:59
Richard Whitehouse: "…In 2007 at the Seward Projects Space in Columbus, I had my first breakthrough with an installation that was to be the prototype for this current one. It was called THE PUNCH-YOU-IN-THE-FACE TUNNEL. It was the same set-up as THE RAPE TUNNEL except at the end of the tunnel I’d punch the subject in the face instead of raping him or her. The impetus was completely reactionary to the current state of art, and motivated by pure frustration…"

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
ipekyarsel
2009-10-01
06:50:23
"…As it turns out, I ended up breaking the nose of the third person to crawl through the tunnel, an aspiring model. She went to the hospital and eventually sued me. Her modeling career was put on hold. The civil case was long and drawn out and the matter still hasn’t been resolved. To this day she still has unpaid medical bills. The point of this long aside is that all this took place two years ago, and I’m still having an impact on this young lady’s life, something not many other artists could claim about their work. Rape seemed like the next logical step…"

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
ipekyarsel
2009-10-01
04:50:23
"…As it turns out, I ended up breaking the nose of the third person to crawl through the tunnel, an aspiring model. She went to the hospital and eventually sued me. Her modeling career was put on hold. The civil case was long and drawn out and the matter still hasn’t been resolved. To this day she still has unpaid medical bills. The point of this long aside is that all this took place two years ago, and I’m still having an impact on this young lady’s life, something not many other artists could claim about their workRape seemed like the next logical step…"

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed
The Engineer
2009-10-06
03:34:23
You ask: "So…who’s dumber. The guy who is so overly artistic that he made a rape tunnel, or the people dumb enough to walk through “THE RAPE TUNNEL” only to be raped by the artist."

No, the dumbest of all is the person not immediately recognizing this for a hoax.

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2009/09/artlurker_explains_rape_tunnel.php
Luciano
2009-10-19
10:15:48
Whats really funny is that no one realizes that this is just a picture of the Giant Air cannon at Cal-tech....not a rape tunnel
dome3101
2009-10-19
12:16:32
Der Vergewaltungs-Tunnel – Kunst?! http://bit.ly/fH6MT

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
To
2009-10-19
18:22:13
Well, if this is a real thing (which I don't believe), it might be quite interesting to walk in and turn that thing into the "artist-is-terribly-bashed-by-the-girl-he-was-trying-to-rape-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel". Just to leave a deep impact on his life. and face.
drivingblind666
2009-10-19
19:45:53
http://bit.ly/fH6MT WTF I hate artists like this. What a douche bag.

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
SpookyElric
2009-10-19
19:49:36
WTF. SRSLY, WTF IS THIS http://bit.ly/fH6MT

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Nemesister
2009-10-19
19:57:42
This is just great. So how is this going to improve the public's perception that art isn't just intellectual masturbation? How is this going to convince people that art school graduates aren't just useless dweebs? This guy is just another mouth to feed, a useless carbon footprint, a purveyor of bullshit who should get his ass kicked hard and for a long time. What the Hell is he contributing to the world besides misery?
lordhedgie
2009-10-19
22:21:42
Your WTF of the day. Read the quote from the artist before you puke. http://bit.ly/1xJuxS

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
andrewdrennen
2009-10-20
13:44:59
http://tinyurl.com/ylf9agg – The Rape Tunnel. This is art, apparently. Also read what he says about the lawsuit from his Punch You Tunnel.

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
TammyChicago
2009-10-20
15:16:19
Artist makes interactive piece called The Rape Tunnel (no seriously) http://is.gd/4sMFd Why? Because rape is “impactful artistic gesture”

This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Gen Y
2009-10-20
19:00:18
so, i plan on going through the tunnel and trying to rape the artist. that counts, right?
uk_matsui
2009-10-23
05:27:48
"so, i plan on going through the tunnel and trying to rape the artist. that counts, right?"

lets go together and make it gang rape!

that's well more artistic.
wervil
2009-10-26
12:27:08
this is a great example of bad art! just having a lasting impact and nothing else to it is shock value, and a cheap trick. the nod to our social problems with consent and litigation is also pretty trite. sorry you went through all the trouble and got sued for such a flimsy cause.