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A Danish artist who pocketed large sums of money lent to him by a museum – and submitted empty frames as his artwork – has been ordered by a court to repay the funds.
Jens Haaning, a conceptual artist whose work focuses on power and inequality, was commissioned in 2021 by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, northern Denmark, to recreate two earlier works that used scores of banknotes to represent average incomes.
But when staff unpacked the newly delivered works, they found two empty frames with the title Take the Money and Run.
The museum put the new artworks on display, but when Haaning declined to return the money, it took legal action.
On Monday, a court in Copenhagen ordered the artist to repay the money that was loaned to him but said he should still be paid his fee.
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.”
Saved 45% of original text.
I love it when artists are just massive trolls
Cute, but we’re in the 2020s, not 1930s.
So, though it isn’t invalid to be in breach of contract as a performance piece & especially so given the theme of the work as contracted, it seems unrealistic that a court will let that fly.
Meantime, column inches for an artist who might otherwise have attracted little attention, which is (as with every other iteration of the same game is a comment on the nature of art within Capitalism & media under Capitalism) more than a little hackneyed by now.
A judge already ordered him to repay the bulk of the amount. “On Monday, a court in Copenhagen ordered the artist to repay the money that was loaned to him but said he should still be paid his fee.”
To be expected.
He performed artistic work & delivered the result; hence he is owed his fee.
He did not deliver the pieces he was contracted to make; hence order to repay loan.