Danish artist told to repay museum after handing in blank canvasses
- Published
What would your teacher say if you handed them a blank piece of paper as your homework this week?
A museum in Denmark is very unhappy with one artist who submitted blank canvasses after being paid to produce two pieces of artwork.
A court has now ordered him to return most of the cash, except for a small amount for expenses.
The Kunsten Museum in Aalborg had intended for the artist, Jens Haaning, to embed money in two pieces of art in 2021.
They paid him 534,000 kroner (£61,000), for the project that was meant to be a comment on salaries - money earned from working - in Denmark and Austria.
Instead, he handed in blank canvasses and said: "The work is that I have taken their money".
The gallery received two blank canvases in frames from artist Jens Haaning
The museum asked for the artist to return the money, but Mr Haaning refused.
Now, after a long legal battle, a court in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen has ordered Mr Haaning to refund the museum 492,549 kroner.
That figure, it said, was equivalent to the money the museum had given him minus the artist's fee and the cost of mounting the "artwork".
He stirred up my curatorial staff and he also stirred me up a bit, but I also had a laugh because it was really humoristic.
Museum director Lasse Andersson said he and his staff were annoyed, but they also laughed when they first saw the blank canvasses and decided to show the works anyway.
"He stirred up my curatorial staff and he also stirred me up a bit, but I also had a laugh because it was really humouristic," he said.
It has been good for my work, but it also puts me in an unmanageable situation where I don't really know what to do.
'It has been good for my work'
After the judgment, Mr Haaning told DR, the official English-speaking Danish Broadcasting Corporation, that he did not plan to take the case any further.
Explaining the publicity "has been good for my work," Mr Haaning said "it also puts me in an unmanageable situation where I don't really know what to do".
Speaking to another Danish news channel, he said the museum had made "much, much more" money than was paid, thanks to the publicity surrounding the blank art.
Take the Money and Run isn't the only odd piece of art to get people talking and it got us thinking. Can you tell the difference between real and fake art? Take our quiz below to find out.
If you cannot see the quiz, click here.
- Published1 October 2021
