IN 1961, Italian artist Piero Manzoni shocked the art world by packaging his own poop into 90 tin cans, each meticulously labelled to describe its contents.
The project was seen as an act of defiance against the art establishment – although some of the cans later sold at auction for thousands of euros, with one fetching a record €275,000 in Milan.
Now, a Swedish woman is also turning poo into art on the Costa Blanca – albeit for a very different reason.
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The expat, who lives in Torrevieja, has embarked on a personal crusade against irresponsible dog owners, transforming excrement left on pavements into impromptu works of art.
Wearing a straw hat and a badge identifying her as a ‘museum director’, the Swede can be seen in a video spraying dog mess with gold paint before placing white frames around it.
She then puts paper placards beside her creations, giving them titles such as ‘Anonymous Artist’, ‘The Brown Period’, ‘New Acquisition’ and ‘The Work of Art’.
The project, titled ‘La caca dorada’ (‘The Golden Poo’), is aimed at dog owners who leave their pets’ mess behind rather than picking it up.
The woman does not speak Spanish, but her son Petter, who lives in Sweden, explained to local outlet Informacion that she started the unusual campaign out of frustration with the problem in her neighbourhood.
Her protest comes as Torrevieja continues to grapple with dog fouling in some residential areas, despite efforts by the local authorities to tackle the issue.
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The town’s street-cleaning regulations require owners to pick up their dogs’ excrement and clean up after them.
Failing to do so is a serious offence, and can be punished by fines of up to €2,001.
The council has also deployed a specialist cleaning moped, nicknamed the ‘motocaca’ (‘poo-moped’), which uses a vacuum system to remove dog mess from public spaces.
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It has been operating since mid-2023, mainly focusing on the seafront promenades and central areas, where the problem has reportedly become less common.
However, residents in some outlying urbanisations continue to complain about abandoned dog mess, while issuing fines can prove difficult.
For the Swedish expat, at least, the problem has provided an opportunity to unleash her artistic ambitions.
Whether her work will be remembered alongside Manzoni’s, however, is for the critics to decide.
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