Convict Donates Corpse for Fish Food

Out of canvas? Is your paint all dried up? Has your muse skipped town? If you're Marco Evaristti, then you can find one medium that addresses all of these issues while making a substantial contribution to shock art. With a little help from the Texas justice system, the Danish-based artist is collaborating with death row inmate Gene Hathorn on one of his next works.

Should his final appeal against execution fail, Hathorn will bequeath his corpse to Evaristti, who will deep-freeze the body and turn it into fish food that the general public can then dispense to goldfish. Though not quite as distasteful esoteric as the range of meatballs he produced from his own body fat, this piece aims to deliver a larger statement criticizing the death penalty. Meanwhile, Evarisstti’s construction of an execution bed goes on display later this month as part of the Art Copenhagen art fair.