Arthur Berzinsh's controversial performance in Latvia was broadcast on a Facebook Live stream, sparking a flurry of complaints and even attracting the attention of cops.
AN artist whose depraved exhibition features two assistants having their own flesh cut off, cooked in a frying pan and FED to them denies the performance is cannibalism - and says it's no worse than fingernail chewing.
Arthur Berzinsh's controversial stunt was broadcast on a Facebook Live stream, sparking a flurry of complaints and even attracting the attention of cops.
The 33-year-old artist staged the performance - named 'Eschatology' - on March 6 at a posh museum in Riga, the capital of Latvia.
Stomach-churning footage shows Berzinsh's assistant pulling on a white forensic suit then approaching two volunteers with a scalpel.
She then cuts a chunk of meat from each of their backs without anaesthetic, fries it in a large black pan, then drops it into their mouths to devour.
Arthur told The Sun Online: "It's not fake, but it also is not cannibalism. Each of them ate his or her own piece of skin after (a) scarification procedure. Otherwise fingernail gnawing also can be proclaimed as cannibalism."
He said the performance was a "metaphor of consumer society that consumes itself" designed to remind viewers of the Catholic Blessed Sacrament.
He added: "All we have in our present paradigm is ourselves, and that is what we eat.
"Of course I had worries. I was really worried, though everything seemed under control. And of course I feel responsibility for my actions, although this action is just a gesture. An artistic, conceptual gesture.
"The main profession of Santa, the girl who worked with (the) scalpel, is tattooing. And yes - it was volunteering.
"This is art, and they were really excited with the result. It was not only shocking, but also very atmospheric, highly aesthetic performance, and I agree with them - really successful result."
Authorities in the Baltic country are said to be probing the show - but bemused cops can't find anything illegal about it.
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