SINGAPORE, Sept 2 — The message of a flyer urging people to “kill stray cats”, which earned the ire of animal welfare groups and online readers at the weekend, was taken out of context, said an arts collective, which had used the flyer in a performance.

Vertical Submarine clarified late on Sunday night on its Facebook page that the flyers had been part of a satirical performance-exhibition on acts of evil, which was commissioned by the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), for the recently-concluded Singapore Night Festival.

It was one of several that depicted other similarly “evil” actions as part of the piece, called Eville.

“The flyers were not distributed to the public for the purpose of advocacy, but scattered as part of the performance. We do not advocate or condone the killing of stray cats. On the contrary, we are pleased that the issue of cat abuse is highlighted,” said the group.

Images of the flyer were shared by animal welfare groups such as the Cat Welfare Society (CWS), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Singapore and Voices For Animals on their respective Facebook pages, sparking dismay among the public.

The CWS and the SPCA have since apologised for presenting the flyer without the context of the exhibition and said they would like to work with the organisations and groups involved in the exhibition to highlight the issue of community cats to a wider public.

The CWS, however, also pointed out how the flyer “has hit a very raw nerve” since it has “come out at a time when cat abuse cases have increased in frequency”.

Animal welfare was also in the news last week, after a Housing and Development Board (HDB) notice to residents listing the option of surgically debarking dogs to deal with excessive barking was circulated online. It had angered animal welfare groups, which prompted the HDB to take down the notice and apologise.

CWS chief executive Joanne Ng said: “We feel it would be a good opportunity to turn this into something positive.

"The more awareness about animal welfare and abuse, the more people will be better informed. We can, perhaps, collectively collaborate and come up with something that can appeal to the wider public.”

She also suggested that additional information on the flyer— such as a footnote stating that it was part of a satirical performance — would have been useful.

Eville was held at art gallery Artspace222 on Queen Street over the two weekends of the festival. Explaining the performance, Vertical Submarine said: “The flyers and other Eville exhibits explore the theme of evilness and depict several acts of evil happening in our society.

"Satirical didactics were used throughout the show with the intention of provoking reflection within the arch of the Eville exhibition. The flyers were one such device and this would have been clear if the exhibition had been viewed in its entirety, rather than one flyer outside of its context.”

In response to queries, an SKM spokesperson said: “Eville was an exhibition about the evil that exists in our society, from animal abuse to adultery and even ‘small evils’ like littering or wastage.

“If you had been at the exhibition, you would have been taken on a journey through some horrific and terrifying experiences, before being invited to reflect on what you had seen and how you had reacted to them.

"The artists’ intention was to ask participants about their stand on evil, whether they would participate in or reject these acts, through the use of satire and horror.”

Vertical Submarine is known for its use of satire, sarcasm, dark humour and fictional situations in its work. In 2009, the group won the President’s Young Talents award for the playful installation A View With A Room at the Singapore Art Museum.

Another installation, Flirting Point, was a critique of Singapore as a restrictive society that needed a designated area for human interaction. — Today