This Danish museum might not have loaned this artist $ 84,000 for his work – The HuffPost

Ritzau Scanpix Denmark via Reuters

ART – Take the money and run away. Danish artist Jens Haaning, known for having framed the average annual salary of a Dane using real Danish kroner and an Austrian with euro banknotes, is talking about him. the Museum of modern art Kunsten asked him to reproduce his works as part of his exhibition Work It Out. To carry out this artistic project, he loaned the artist a sum of 534,000 Danish crowns or 84,000 dollars.

What was the surprise of the Museum at the reception of the works: two titled white boards Take the money and run (”Take the money and flee ”in French).

An unexpected reinterpretation that upset the museum: “We are not a rich museum”, confided to the GuardianLasse Andersson, director of the Kunsten Museum. “The money comes from modest reserves earmarked for the maintenance of the building. We need to think carefully about how we spend our funds, and we don’t spend more than we can afford ”.

The artist justified his work by replying that “the work is based on / responds to both your exhibition concept and the works that we (the museum and him, Editor’s note) initially planned to show”. The exhibition Work It Out must talk about the relationship between art and work.

I want my money back

“Do we have to work to have money, or can we just take it?”, This is the question around which the exhibition is based according to the director of the museum interviewed by CNN. “Why are we going to work? All of these kinds of things make us start thinking about the cultural habits of the society of which we are a part. And then this also applies to the question: Are artists paid enough for what they do? ”, He detailed.

Despite this questioning about art raised by the exhibition, the museum nevertheless wishes to recover its funds. Contractually, Jens Haaning is required to return the money by January 16, 2022. Lasse Anderson is confident about this return, “he is a recognized artist. But if we do not recover it, we will have to file a complaint ”, he confides to the Guardian.

Jens Haaning meanwhile does not seem so sure he wants to comply with his contractual obligations, arguing that the job has been done, the latter being to take the money. He even adds that “it’s not theft. It’s a breach of contract, and the breach of contract is part of the work. ”

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