Danish artist told to repay museum €67,000 after turning in blank canvasses
Danish artist told to repay museum €67,000 after turning in blank canvasses
Jens Haaning was given €71,000 by a Danish museum to create art, but sent it blank frames.
A Danish artist has been ordered to return nearly 500,000 kroner (€67,000) to a museum after he supplied it with two blank canvasses for a project he named "Take the Money and Run".
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Haaning told Danish radio:
The work is that I have taken their money. It’s not theft. It is breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work. I encourage other people who have working conditions as miserable as mine to do the same. If they’re sitting in some shitty job and not getting paid, and are actually being asked to pay money to go to work, then grab what you can and beat it.
I really hate his justification because it seems incredibly selfish and short-sighted. Imagine if he murdered someone and said it wasn't murder because it was art. It can be both, and society might also argue it is not art or should not normatively be art.
I hate that he's trying to pass it off as some heroic Robin Hood gesture. If anyone actually follows his advice they're likely to get arrested.