Businessman calls for boycott of Aspen Art Museum

A New York businessman and Turtle Conservancy board member is calling for a boycott of the Aspen Art Museum until a controversial exhibit featuring tortoises carrying iPads on their backs is removed.

Andy Sabin, acting independently of the conservancy, tells The Aspen Times (http://bit.ly/XkpKKP ) Cai Guo-Qiang’s art installation “Moving Ghost Town” – which features tortoises displaying footage of ghost towns on their iPads – is exploitation. Sabin, of East Hampton, New York, owns Sabin Metal Corp., a large private refinery of silver, gold and platinum.

Tax records show he donated $66,000 to the conservancy in 2011, but he says he most recently provided $250,000 to the organization.

The museum has stood behind the exhibit, noting the tortoises were rescued from a breeder and are being watched over by a veterinarian.