Once again, a work of art has been destroyed while being captured on “film”. The video below, documenting the incident, has my blood boiling. First, being an adult chaperone to two small children, you should know better than to let them climb under museum ropes that are there to protect the artwork. Once that happened, what did these adults do? Grabbed their phones and began FILMING the two young children grabbing, pushing, and eventually ruining a glass sculpture of angel wings at the Shanghai Museum of Glass. Not only is it disrespectful to the artist and museum, but the work is made of glass – can we say dangerous!? Good job chaperones…. The sculpture titled “Angel Is Waiting”, which I must add is/was quite beautiful , took glass artist Shelly Xue 27 months to complete and has hung in the museum since 2014. Now, with a half broken wing, Xue has re-titled the work “Broken” and has installed a loop of the security camera footage next to the installation. We have yet to learn if the two young children and women are being charged with any crimes or fines.
This isn’t the first time a work of art was damaged or completely destroyed while being captured on a cellphone:
Two tourists in Italy broke off the crown on top of “Statue of the Two Hercules” at the Piazza del Comune in Cremona while trying to climb on top of it to take a photo.
A student visiting Milan climbed on top of a 19th century statue “Drunken Satyr” breaking off his leg as he sat on it for a picture.
A young man in Portugal ruined a 126-year-old statue outside a station after climbing on top of it for a selfie, smashing to pieces as it hit the ground.