ART

Portuguese poet Joaqium Castro Caldes wants a Lisbon arts foundation to finance his “suicide,” including the cost of 20 clowns to enliven the proceeding, according to copies of letters exchanged by the poet and the foundation. Listed in Caldes’ request for 1 million escudos ($7,000), made to Gulbenkian Foundation: 70,000 escudos for revolver and ammunition, 500,000 escudos for cremation and scattering of his ashes in the River Tejo, 500,000 escudoes for an orchestra to intone Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” during the suicide, and 250,000 escudos for 20 clowns. The Gulbenkian Foundation, well known for its generosity towards artists, declined to bear the costs. The foundation’s director wrote: “I regrettably condemn you to living for a few more years.”