“The artwork is that I have taken the money,” artist Jens Haaning

September 30, 2021 at 3:13 pm · Filed under 2021, ACTivism, Advertising, Anonymous® Radio Show, Arts & Culture, BEST of the Web, Bits, Corona Virus, Educational, Europe, Faves, Humor Me, Interactive, Internet, Interview, Musings™, NEW!, Performance, PODSHOW, Politically INcorrect, Poll, PROMOTIONS!, Propaganda, Quickies, Short & Sweet, Spoken Word, Strange News, Suggestions, Weird Shit and tagged: Art, Censorship, CHANGE, Christmas, Creative thinking, David Bowie, Denmark, Fuck!, Humor, Love, Original thinking, Poetry, Publicity Stunt, Television, Weed, WTF?, Yeah Baby!!

A woman looks at an art installation titled “Take the Money and Run” at the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, in Aalborg, Denmark

COPENHAGEN (AP) — A Danish artist who was was given money by a museum with which to create artwork, submitted two empty canvases — titled “Take the Money and Run.”

---

Jens Haaning was given the equivalent of nearly $84,000 in Danish kroner and euro bank notes by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg.

For its exhibition on labor conditions that opened Sept. 24, the museum commissioned Hanning to recreate two of his earlier pieces, which featured bank notes attached to a canvas representing the average annual wage in Denmark and Austria.

As well as lending him the notes, the museum also paid him 25,000 kroner ($3,900) for the work. But when museum officials received the completed artworks, they were blank.

“The artwork is that I have taken the money,” Haaning told a radio show on the P1 channel that is part of Danish broadcaster DR this week. He declined to say where the money was.

Haaning, who is known as a provocateur, said the artwork represented his current work situation.

“I encourage others who have just as miserable working conditions as I to do the the same,” Haaning said. “If they are being asked to give money to go to work, then take the money and run.”

The museum says Haaning has broken the agreement on how to use the money. It has not yet decided whether to report Haaning to the police if the money is not returned before the exhibition ends in January, 2022

Haaning, however, denies having committed any crime and insists he did produce a work of art.

“It’s not theft, it is a breach of contract, and the breach of contract is part of the work,” Haaning says. He was not reachable for comment on Wednesday.

Ed. I’m still laughing at his utter hubris.

Permalink