Monday, July 31, 2000
Hogspital fixes broken pigs
As human abuse and weather take their toll, Pig Gig organizers resort to repair facility
By Mike Pulfer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Jennifer Drydyk and Kari Wehking repair "Amelia PigArt."
(Steven M. Herppich photos)
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Stained-glass chips are repaired.
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An ambulance screeches to a halt. Its siren fades, turns into a growl. White-coated trauma specialists scurry to the back bumper with a gurney cart. OK, so that's not quite the way it goes at the new “Pig Spa and Hospital” at 40 E. Seventh St., downtown.
For Cincinnati's fiberglass pigs on parade, the urgency level just isn't the same as it is on television's ER.
But pop-art docs at this repair center for broken-down, gussied-up hogs are mending snapped legs, slashed tails and severed wings. The triage is taking place in the spa or on the streets of downtown Cincinnati, Covington and Newport for Big Pig Gig, one of the nation's biggest, most successful examples of trendy urban public art exhibits. More than 260 pigs are out already, drawing cameras and compliments; 407 are expected by August.
Accidental damage, pig assaults and thefts have become problems for Gig organizers and ArtWorks, the Gig's beneficiary agency that provides arts-related jobs and job training for youth.
Tamara Harkavy, Gig coordinator and ArtWorks executive director, said at least 30 finished, on-exhibit pigs have been damaged, either by humans or weather.
To address the problem, organizers have:
• Opened the pig hospital, a former 1,000-square-foot art gallery in the Cincinnati Bell Long Distance Building.
• Established a five-man “pig patrol” that monitors pig installations daily.
• Clustered northern Kentucky pigs closer to the Ohio River for pig safety and viewer convenience.
• Established a pig hotline.
• Called the cops.
“The Cincinnati police will be very involved” in a crackdown on vandalism against pigs, Ms. Harkavy said. “I wouldn't be surprised to see some undercover action in the next few weeks.”
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HOW TO HELP
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• To report missing pig parts and signs of pig abuse, call the Big Pig Gig at 333-0388.
• To help pay for repairs, contribute to the Fifth Third Piggy Bank Fund, at Fifth Third Bank, which has made the only contribution ($1,000) so far. Go to www.53.com or any Fifth Third bank. For more information, call 579-4153.
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ON THE WEB
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Find pig profiles and event details at Cincinnati.com/bigpigig
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A police spokeswoman confirmed only that the department had mailed letters about pig vandalism to downtown building managers and instructed beat officers to be on the lookout for pig trouble.
A special pig task force would not be a consideration because the pigs are so widely distributed, said Lt. Ray Ruberg, in the police public information office. But, “officers are especially watchful for things happening to them.”
“We're giving them as much attention as we can,” said District One's Lt. Ron Higgins. “It's what we've been doing since the project began.”
But, in most cases, “I don't think it's malicious,” he said. “People just don't understand that they're fragile.”
Pigs are big deal
Not since the hog-processing days of “Porkopolis” have pigs been so important to the Queen City. Cincinnati was quick to follow the example of Chicago's 1999 Cows on Parade, a similar project with a little more room for individual creativity, and numerous other municipal public art projects nationwide.
But vandalism was not a problem in Chicago, according to Nathan Mason, that city's curator of special projects. “Certainly not as big as it has been for other cities.”
One person was prosecuted for breaking a horn off a cow, but Mr. Mason was not aware of other arrests for vandalism or theft.
Organizers, he said, were pleased with the response of the public, “especially given the size and scope of the project.” At the end of the project, 142 of the 322 cows were sold at auction — for an average price of $23,000. One cow brought $110,000.
With about 12 percent of the pigs on Cincinnati streets already damaged, organizers say it's time to send a message to those who can't keep their hands off. Or their feet.
Kicking a pig could get you a $2,500 fine. Stealing the whole pig could mean six to 12 months in the slammer.
The Gig is expected to pull $170 million into the local economy, according to a report commissioned by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and the Partnership for Greater Cincinnati. And, the Gig ends with an auction of painted pigs in November. As in any art auction, works bring better prices if they're in good shape.
In one sense, each pig has a “street value” of at least $1,800, because that's the minimum sponsor fee. Of course, what a sponsor gets for his money is a lot more than a pig. He gets a spot — sometimes a prominent one — to post the company/organization name.
But, based on sponsor fees, 22 Fountain Square and other “prime location” pigs are worth $10,000 each; 71 pigs are worth $5,000; 251 are worth $2,800; and 55 school-sponsored pigs are worth $1,800.
In addition to time and work volunteered by artists after their original design work, an ArtWorks installation/repair crew contributes about 100 hours a week mounting and repairing pigs.
Jennifer Drydyk, an artist and art teacher at Amelia High School — and an artist victim of a possible pig attack — said she believes most of the damage has been the result of innocent exuberance and weather conditions.
She and Kari Wehking, a former student, were at the hospital/spa, repairing a pig “skin” of stained-glass chips around the rump area of “Amelia PigArt,” (think Amelia Earhart) a school-project pig with bi-plane wings, propeller and wheels. Kari, an 18-year-old incoming freshman at Northwestern University, graduated from Amelia High School this spring.
“I'm very glad we have the hospital here,” Ms. Drydyk said, noting a heavy volume of interest from passersby. “Little kids like to see how (the pigs) are made.”
“The nice thing is that people can see art in progress,” said Betsy Neyer, marketing director for the Gig.
The hospital is a stark white storefront near the Aronoff Center, with white walls and light hardwood floors. The wall facing the street is all glass, with premium display spaces to the right and left of the front door.
Ms. Harkavy said she was considering using the space partly as a pig museum, where premium pigs could be exhibited behind secure display glass.
Ms. Harkavy believes much of the damage that has occurred is “malicious” destruction. One artist, she said, fixed the same pig three times.
Steve Geddes, another participating artist, called it “mystifying...I just don't understand vandalism. It's not as though you're going to get anything out of it. There's no advantage.”
“In some cases, you can see that people purposely broke things,” said Mike Uhlenhake, logistics manager for the project. “People like to touch and fiddle with things,” he said. “A lot of times, the artists don't know how the public deals with art. They put delicate things on the pig and somebody will come up and touch it a little and something breaks off.”
"Do not touch'
Installers have mounted “Please do not touch” signs on the bases, but sometimes they don't do the job.
Indeed, one of the top causes of damage is “loving them too much,” Ms. Harkavy said. People touch them — many of them gently, but too much.”
Numerous pigs, usually as a result of pulling and/or wobbling with human hands on their backs, have been broken or loosened from their bases, where they are attached with bolts, Ms. Harkavy said.
Many pigs are repaired at their individual exhibit sites, Mr. Uhlenhake said. “We don't like to move them to the spa unless it warrants a good amount of work from the artist or it looks like it's going to start really falling apart.”
Ms. Drydyk spent a week at the hospital, re-grouting, re-gluing and re-sealing the Amelia pig, which eventually goes back to its assigned spot in Lytle Park, downtown.
ArtWorks provides free delivery, when necessary, to the hospital, and free repairs, when minor, on site. Artists are consulted on more serious damages.
“We always call the artist first and ask, "Do you want to fix this? If not, we will,” Ms. Harkavy said. “But it has to be fixed.”
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