A Danish artist did what perhaps all artists in the world aspire to do: Provoked a conversation with a piece of art, or rather, with two pieces of blank canvases. But now everyone is left wondering: Is this art or theft?
Jens Haaning, an artist, was commissioned by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark to reproduce two of his previous artworks-- that represented the annual salary in Denmark and Austria.
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The artist was supposed to use actual banknotes from his payment to recreate two pieces, "An Average Austrian Year Income" from 2007 and "An Average Danish Annual Income" from 2010, to compare the average annual incomes of an Austrian and a Dane.
The museum said it advanced the Danish artist 534,000 kroner, or roughly $84,000, or roughly, Rs 61,72,228 as a loan to recreate the works.
The artist returned two black canvasses. He titled his new artwork, "Take the Money and Run" — and called the blank canvases a commentary on poor wages.
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But artist Jens Haaning won't call it theft. "No, it's not theft. It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work," he told Danish public broadcaster DR.
The agreement had said that the money must be returned when the exhibition ends. But Jens Haaning has said that "it will not happen."
The new work, he said, is a protest against the remuneration conditions that the museum offered.
"The work is that I have taken their money. It's not theft. It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of the work."
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According to the artist, it would cost him 25,000 kroner out of his own pocket to re-establish the two previous works, which have been made for other occasions.
"Why should we show a work that is about Denmark and Herning 11 years ago, or one that is about Austria's relationship with a bank 14 years ago?" So, he thought of the new idea for the exhibition that was titled by the museum "Work It Out".
Lasse Andersson, director of the museum, acknowledged to BBC that the artist that he had a good laugh. "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." But, it's no joke.
Two days before the exhibition opened, Haaning, he said, sent the museum an email saying he had sent his new work.
The director of the museum said that there's a contract that states that the money is to be returned on 16 January. He said he believes that the artist will return the money. "He is a well-regarded artist. But if we don't get it back, we will have to file charges against the artist," he told The Guardian.
However, the artist has said that he has no intention of returning the money.
In fact, in an interview, he has said he encourages other people, who have just as miserable working conditions, to do the same. "If they are sitting on some shit job and not getting money and are actually being asked to give money to go to work, then take off the box and unplug," he told Danish public broadcaster DR.
In its notes about the artist's work, the museum notes, on its website, " Jens Haaning's work is socio-critical, based on ideas, tackling topics such as capitalism, globalisation, democracy, racism, and structural inequality. In his artistic practice, he has worked with asylum centres, bus drivers, and masseurs and is fascinated by the inclusion and exclusion mechanisms in Western culture as well as its major discrimination of people.
