in august, 2007, in managua, nicaragua, the gallery codice held an exhibition of the costa rican "artist" guillermo aka "habacuc" or "hav'a cock" vargas, who exhibited a piece consisting of a starved, emaciated and dying dog, named natividad, tied to a wall without food or water but with the words "you are what you read" written high on the wall in dog food, out of the dog’s reach. It was later revealed that the dog died within some hours of the exhibition.
the worldwide reaction was immediate and overwhelming. petitions were written to have habacuc removed from the prestigious central american biannual artists exhibition in honduras 2008. habacuc began a series of justifications for his “art” first saying it was to promote awareness of the death of a thief attacked by rottweilers, and the hypocrisy of the public to not lament that death. he added that the public’s condemnations of his work would not affect his participation in the biannual. the galery codice, also after being heavily criticized, posted a disclaimer trying to convince people that the emaciated and barely able to stand dog, had actually escaped and never died. habacuc backpedaled further when he tried to convince people that it was all a joke to generate publicity and that the dog is alive and well. but he has yet to prove it.