What's for dinner? Rats! US artist gives guests a lesson of survival

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Published time: July 29, 2012 10:45
Edited time: July 29, 2012 14:45

What does it take to survive in New York if you are an aspiring artist? Brooklyn-based Laura Ginn, once a vegetarian, has spent a few years on a diet of rats and making leather creations from the animals, which she caught herself.

Laura Ginn (image from the artist's video)

­The challenge, she says, was “exploring self-sufficiency in an urban environment”. In the long run, the 28-year-old artist has created a project “Tomorrow We Will Feast Again on What We Catch”, a selection of photographs, plus a performance. 

Laura Ginn (image from the artist's video)

­Ginn invited nearly a hundred “brave souls and adventurers” to her one-off dinner at Allegra La Viola Gallery in New York. The guests, who reportedly paid $100, were treated to what the artist modestly described as “an unusual feast” – “one of New York City’s truly sustainable resources: rats”. They weren't trademark “subway rats”, though, but reportedly “medical rats” delivered from a clean facility in California.

Laura Ginn (image from the artist's video)

­Ginn welcomed her dear guests in a dress made of 300 rat pelts that she had tanned and sewn together. Meanwhile the dining space was furnished with handmade leather stools and a table crafted from material salvaged from the streets and sidewalks of NYC.