Photo courtesy of: Mette Kirstine Goddiksen/Kunsten Museum of Modern Art
We have all seen, in recent years, that anything a person decides to call art is art — taping a banana to the wall, creating an invisible sculpture. etc. That kind of stuff blows my mind — especially when people pay big money for it.
Well, it was recently reported that Jens Haaning, a Danish artist, borrowed 534,000 kroner ($84,000) from the Kunsten museum to replicate an old sculpture. Rather than creating the sculpture, he sent the museum a box with two empty frames; he called it Take the Money and Run.
The artist was interviewed on the Danish radio program P1Morgan and stated, “It’s not theft. It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work.” Right now, the museum has included the empty frames in their current exhibition, Work it Out. After the exhibition, they expect the artist to return the money, but the artist has indicated that he will keep the funds.
It will be interesting to see if the museum decides to take legal action or if this is just some sort of publicity stunt.
Source: Danish Artist Takes Museum’s Money and Runs, Calls It Artwork
Source: Danish artist delivers empty frames for $84k as low pay protest