Denmark: an artist who was to exhibit 70,000 euros in banknotes left with the money – LCI

70,000 euros. It is the sum of banknotes loaned by a Danish museum to an artist who was to use them to reconstruct one of his old works representing one year’s salary in Denmark and Austria. But instead of sticking the tickets on a canvas, Jens Haaning finally decided to keep the small fortune for himself.

“Two days before the opening of the exhibition, we received a message from Jens telling us that he had not produced the works on which we had agreed”, explained the director of the museum, Lasse Andersson. Instead, the artist said he would send more “titled Take the money and get out“, told the head of the museum to AFP.

When the boxes opened, the employees noticed that this was exactly what the plastic surgeon had done: the money was not there and the fabrics had remained white. After the amazement, Lasse Andersson laughed and the museum decided to present the two works as part of its exhibition on modern work. “They offer a humorous approach and lead to reflect on the way in which we value work”, he justified.

The artist, for his part, defended his gesture, evoking a way of affirming “that we also have the responsibility to question the structures of which we are part”. “If these structures are completely unreasonable, we must break with them”, Jens Hanning justified in a press release.

For now, Lasse Andersson has chosen to focus on the artistic merit of the two paintings, while acknowledging that he does not despair of seeing one day the ones he had commissioned. But after the last day of the exhibition, January 16, his considerations will no longer be aesthetic or philosophical. “We will take the necessary steps to ensure that Jens Haaning respects his contract and returns the money”, he stressed. For his work, Jens Haaning had received 10,000 crowns (1340 euros), to which is added an exhibition bonus.