Becoming Somebody

Turns out all us hasty bloggers were had. Aliza Shvarts didn’t actually impregnate herself and then induce a bunch of miscarriages, all for the sake of art. I must admit that I’m sort of disappointed that it’s not real. It’s a lot less provocative now. At the very least, when we all thought it was legit, it was something to talk about. Now it’s just a weird performance piece with some fake blood and staged events caught on video. Fucking artists.

A student’s stunning claims of repeatedly artificially inseminating herself and then taking drugs to induce miscarriages for her senior art project aren’t true, Yale University said Thursday night.

The student, art major Aliza Shvarts, told several high-level Yale officials that she did not do the things she said she did in constructing the exhibit, according to the Ivy League university’s strongly worded statement sent to FOXNews.com.

“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,” said Helaine S. Klasky, associate dean and vice president for public affairs at Yale. “Ms. Shvarts is engaged in performance art. Her art project includes visual representations, a press release and other narrative materials.”

“She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art,” Klasky said in the statement. […]

The timing of Klasky’s statement — more than 10 hours after the school paper published the story, which was picked up by several Web news outlets — indicated that Yale officials had taken Shvarts’ claims seriously enough to launch a full-scale investigation.

“Her art project includes visual representations,” Klasky wrote. “[Shvarts] 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. … Had these acts been real they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns.”

The stomach-turning display will be showcased next week — complete with depictions of blood samples and videos purporting to be from the terminated pregnancies. … Click here for the full story

Shvarts’ project may ultimately provide greater commentary on the speed of the modern news cycle than it will on her intended topic. Kudos, I guess, to the artist for doing her thing, though it bugs me when people lie to the press — even a student paper — in order to advertise themselves. Normally I’d have something to say about reporters not doing their jobs, but, with something like this, Shvarts was really the only source. As long as she was saying it was real, there’s not much a reporter could do. Once again: Fucking artists.

Thanks to my kid sister for sending the update, by the way.