[HN Gopher] Art or heist? A Danish artist took $84k and sent a m...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Art or heist? A Danish artist took $84k and sent a museum 2 blank
       canvases
        
       Author : cube00
       Score  : 122 points
       Date   : 2021-09-29 18:02 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.npr.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org)
        
       | blablabla123 wrote:
       | In school it used to be a running gag to speculate how astonished
       | the philosophy teacher would be if someone would hand in an essay
       | with just the word "No".
        
       | Waterluvian wrote:
       | "It is a breach of contract, and breach of contract is part of
       | the work,"
       | 
       | Being sued or prosecuted will also be part of the artwork.
        
         | pugworthy wrote:
         | Legal proceedings in the court room can at times be
         | performance.
        
           | int_19h wrote:
           | Case in point.
           | 
           | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzODx3WLarQ
        
       | weego wrote:
       | It's a piece of tangible performance art, which is unusual and
       | not the medium they expected.
        
         | jld wrote:
         | He should send another invoice for the extra services!
        
       | citizenpaul wrote:
       | Modern art is money laundering. It is crazy how it has taken over
       | the entire industry.
        
       | mrb wrote:
       | The canvases would have been ten times better (IMHO) if the
       | artist had sloppily and quickly written "Take the Money and Run"
       | on them, and maybe even left the brush and paint on the floor
       | below the canvas
       | 
       | But then, maybe I'm wrong, and that's why I'm not an artist :)
        
       | bazhova wrote:
       | > "The work is that I have taken their money," Haaning stated.
       | 
       | I hope he enjoys the second half of his art - legal action
        
       | dylan604 wrote:
       | HN timing is so weird:
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28683497
        
       | scns wrote:
       | In Germany, an art collective rented the plot adjacent to the
       | plot where Bjorn Hocke, a far-right politician from the AFD lives
       | and installed a miniature holocaust memorial there. All lawsuits
       | against it have been dismissed. Text is in german, DeepL [1] may
       | be of help.
       | 
       | [0] https://politicalbeauty.de/holocaust-mahnmal-bornhagen.html
       | 
       | [1] https://www.deepl.com/translator#de/en/
        
       | legitster wrote:
       | I went to an exhibit on modern art at SAM. It was full of ironic
       | pieces, like a gauge that measured its own distance to the floor
       | and ceiling (and had some sort of ironic name about literalism or
       | something). The centerpieces was a big blank canvas with the
       | words "I could have done that" scrawled across it in marker.
       | 
       | I stick to historic exhibits for the most part now.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | panda888888 wrote:
         | But modern art is funny! There's a difference between art and
         | craft. If you prefer craft, that's fine. At least in my book,
         | modern art isn't about craft. It's about making you think.
         | Sometimes it's stupid, overdone, plays into tropes too much,
         | etc., but usually it invokes an emotion.
         | 
         | For example, consider Banksy's painting that shredded itself.
         | That's hilarious! The people who accidentally left a pineapple
         | in a museum, only to return later and find that it had been
         | covered with a glass case? That's equally funny. And in this
         | instance, props to the artist for deciding to take the money
         | and run. It fits the title of their work.
        
         | m_ke wrote:
         | My worst date ever was a trip to MOMA, I had to go to a museum
         | as an assignment for an art history class. The girl must have
         | thought I was a weirdo for taking her there and we pretty much
         | stopped talking after that night.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | I mean, yeah. Context my friend. If you go on a date, it
           | should be for the shared experience of whatever you're doing.
           | Taking someone with you while you do homework is not that.
           | It's no different than bringing a date to work to watch you
           | work. Few dates will actually appreciate that experience.
        
         | thrwyoilarticle wrote:
         | It's unfair not to mention how much some historic art sucks. I
         | went to the Tate Britain and a large section of the historic
         | works were 'aristocrat pays someone to paint his family very
         | flatteringly but with obvious lighting and perspective flaws'.
         | If you take a step back and imagine a celebrity today
         | commissioning the same kind of artwork, it becomes painfully
         | obvious how egotistical and unworthy of praise these works are.
         | 
         | See also: displaying unfinished sketches. Nice for a collector
         | but let's not pretend there's any artistic value in it.
        
           | beambot wrote:
           | I once rode in an original Model T. Ride was horrible: super
           | slow, very uncomfortable, and the handling was ghastly. But
           | clearly we don't judge "ancient" developments exclusively by
           | modern standards...
           | 
           | Artwork of old was commissioned and preserved by the wealthy.
           | All of the old works are rare (relatively), fairly impressive
           | for the time, and some are true masterpieces.
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | It depends on your view point. A lot of art is critized for
           | the artist's abilities and techniques to create the art and
           | much less for the subject matter. The David could have been
           | any random dude, but it is the ability of accurately
           | recreating that randome dude in stone that makes it
           | impressive. Some of the painted pieces that are extremely
           | large and take up an entire museum wall are impressive just
           | for the shear accomplisment. Yes, it helps that it looks so
           | real as well.
           | 
           | >See also: displaying unfinished sketches. Nice for a
           | collector but let's not pretend there's any artistic value in
           | it.
           | 
           | If you imagine those sketches being underneath the painting
           | and realizing that those sketches were how the artist worked
           | on creating the actual piece is interesting in the same way
           | watching behind-the-scenes videos on how a movie was made are
           | interesting--to those that are interested in the first place.
           | Similar to Show HN articles on some use of fad language to
           | redo something else already in existence. If you have no
           | interest in that language or the thing being made, they
           | aren't interesting.
        
           | biztos wrote:
           | > See also: displaying unfinished sketches.
           | 
           | Depending on the artist and the sketch, I'm quite happy to
           | see it also. Sketches can provide a lot of super interesting
           | context about other works. And sometimes they're quite good
           | by themselves.
           | 
           | There's also no "value" in watching, say, Novak Djokovic
           | practice his serves. Unless you care about tennis, in which
           | case you'd probably watch with rapt attention.
           | 
           | Same thing, basically, for sketches by good and/or important
           | artists.
        
           | tomcam wrote:
           | IMHO unfinished sketches by great artists can be amazing
           | little stories unto themselves. They can give you insight
           | into the creation process of the artist, which fascinates me.
           | And sometimes they are even more fresh and dynamic than the
           | finished work.
        
         | lelandfe wrote:
         | The Tate Modern has a huge room filled with what seems to be
         | detritus left over from mounting art - ladders, glue, tape, and
         | so on. Your first reaction is that they are switching out an
         | exhibition.
         | 
         | It's only when you read the placard that you find out that each
         | item had been painstakingly carved out of something like resin
         | and painted over a span of years.
         | 
         | Nearby is an empty room, where they actually _are_ switching
         | out an exhibition.
        
           | thrwyoilarticle wrote:
           | So you visited the Tate Modern and, out of all the pieces,
           | the one you recall an anecdote about was the obnoxious
           | detritus? Seems like it did the job.
        
         | user-the-name wrote:
         | So this either says something about the entire field of modern
         | art and the huge number of artists creating it.
         | 
         | Or it says something about you.
        
         | Neil44 wrote:
         | For me modern art is about my reaction to the piece, and the
         | insight and illumination into myself that that gives. So
         | looking at a piece is in a way looking at myself.
         | 
         | Modern art can also be a way of communicating feelings and
         | ideas that language cannot express very well.
        
           | 123pie123 wrote:
           | If an object can induce a feeling - any feeling, even of
           | disgust then I would class it as art.
           | 
           | doesn't mean it's good art though, that's extremely
           | subjective
        
             | int_19h wrote:
             | Garbage in the middle of the street can induce a feeling of
             | disgust, but I don't think that makes it art. Even if
             | somebody were to put a fence around it and stick a sign
             | that says "this is art" on that.
        
           | wyager wrote:
           | You may enjoy the recent episode of the Good Ol Boyz podcast
           | with Dr Hans Georg Moeller on Profilicity. It's an in-depth
           | analysis of the phenomenon you're describing.
        
         | Xylakant wrote:
         | The most memorable art exhibitions for me are modern. There's a
         | lot of trash, but one particularly memorable piece is (or was,
         | it's been a while) hanging right on top of the exit door of the
         | Berlinische Galerie. It's just a unpretentious ticker that
         | scrolls a single sentence in red dots: "Do you feel better
         | now?". True, anyone could have done that. But the placement,
         | the simplicity, the style resonated with me in that moment so
         | that I remember that ticker better than Mona Lisa in Paris.
        
           | 88840-8855 wrote:
           | Yup, same for me. It was a TV in a room with a video on a
           | loop displaying a woman in a mirror who was ripping our her
           | hair and repeating "art must be beautiful".
           | 
           | First thought it was dumb, but then i caught myself thinking
           | about it. This is 4 years ago now and I still remember it,
           | while the Rembrandts and Monets have never provoked any
           | feeling or thought in me.
        
           | elisbce wrote:
           | You are confused of being memorable with being artistic or
           | valuable. I could scare you with a big TV screen showing dead
           | bodies, and that would be the most memorable thing you see
           | that entire month.
        
         | dexwiz wrote:
         | Post Modern art is terrible. At least with early modern art
         | (think Vienna Secession or other movements ~100 years ago),
         | most of the artists had classical training and moved into
         | modern art. Now they are just all terrible. The devaluation of
         | aesthetics in favor of meaning make it unapproachable to those
         | with no context on the subject, and unappealing to even those
         | with context.
         | 
         | Contemporary artists with any skill now work in classical
         | styles, illustrations, or graphic design.
         | 
         | EDIT: I should clarify by Post Modern I mean a specific genre
         | of art focused on deconstruction. Not all contemporary art is
         | Post Modern, and there are many genres alive today that are not
         | Post Modern.
        
           | SavantIdiot wrote:
           | > unapproachable to those with no context on the subject,
           | 
           | OTOH, if you do have context on the subject, it can be
           | profound. It's a bit like certain gamer groups who have
           | subreddits and generate tons of content that outsiders don't
           | get (Warhammer, Genshin Impact, Hololive, ApexLegends...
           | these are few groups I do not understand but they seem to
           | generate a ton of their own internal content.)
           | 
           | Aesthetic art is a product of a particular need, and it will
           | always have admirers. IKEA sells tons of pretty art. People
           | will flock to Versailles to see the Mona Lisa. An occasional
           | brave soul will do a long-viewing of Rothko. That kind of art
           | is for the masses, and historically commissioned pieces in
           | public have been just that. And it hasn't gone away: murals,
           | sculptures in parks, installations at large government
           | buildings.
           | 
           | What people are focusing on here is completely different.
           | 
           | It's a bit ignorant to criticize art that is outside your
           | context. I have the right to say "Warhammer memes are
           | childish bullshit," but it is ignorant.
           | 
           | Much like vegan-bashing, people love to rip on "post modern"
           | art without really knowing much about it. Perhaps there is a
           | legitimate claim that some hot new artist is "classically
           | untrained" so they "actually" suck. Is that true if their art
           | resonates with the current culture? I say, "no."
           | 
           | EDIT: I have attempted to study "postmodernism" many times
           | over the last 30+ years (for fun) since I graduated college.
           | I've failed every time. I don't like to use the term anymore
           | because I can't really explain it to any real depth other
           | then banal platitudes like "nothing has meaning."
           | 
           | EDIT2: I find "take the money and run" to be a brilliant
           | piece of contemporary art. It is so on the nose for today's
           | culture: conniving, ironic, duplicitive, a rip off, ... I
           | think it spurs conversation about the monetary value of art
           | that has been brewing for decades. Heck, even the monetary
           | value of what museums should EXPECT from an artist. That's a
           | big one I'd like to talk about. What if EVERY artist did this
           | from now on? How do you prevent it? Should you? How do
           | artists that put in massive physical effort feel about this?
           | Screwed?
        
             | SkipperCat wrote:
             | Agreed. Post-modern art by itself means nothing to me, but
             | when I learn about the artist and their journey to create a
             | piece of work, I really enjoy it. It's like they say - its
             | not about the destination, it's about the journey.
        
               | SavantIdiot wrote:
               | The classic Duchamp urinal I think is brilliant because
               | it was so goddamn scandalous and just flipped so many
               | assumptions upside-down. Being first matters IMHO. But
               | over many decades it has been so set-upon by bigger
               | thinkers (and GRIFTERS) and creators that it is exactly
               | what the other poster said about "inaccessible".
               | (Although I do love me some Zizek.)
        
             | chrismcb wrote:
             | If your art requires context to be understood, then it is
             | broken.
        
             | dexwiz wrote:
             | I usually classify Post Modern art as deconstructional art
             | post WWII. It was initially fueled by the ennui of two
             | world wars, and then drifted into cries about consumerism.
             | Either way you get a pretty bleak outlook.
        
               | Leparamour wrote:
               | >It was initially fueled by the ennui of two world wars,
               | and then drifted into cries about consumerism.
               | 
               | And also bankrolled by the CIA as a psy-op tool during
               | the Cold war.
               | 
               | https://news.artnet.com/art-world/artcurious-cia-art-
               | excerpt...
        
               | collegeburner wrote:
               | That figures... nothing that stupid happens without the
               | govt being involved
        
               | SavantIdiot wrote:
               | Now I hear it used in the context of skepticism of
               | authority, "nothing can be known as true or false" in the
               | current political climate and it scares the bejeebers
               | outta me. I don't understand how that aspect of PM
               | differs from classical fallacies of appeal to authority
               | -- and I probably never will. :( -- but I agree, it feels
               | bleak.
        
           | spoonjim wrote:
           | https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/whither-tartaria
        
           | okwubodu wrote:
           | > The devaluation of aesthetics in favor of meaning make it
           | unapproachable to those with no context on the subject, and
           | unappealing to even those with context.
           | 
           | Your description of this phenomenon is perfect to me. I find
           | it interesting that nearly the opposite has happened in some
           | areas of music, but you still hear that the lack of "meaning"
           | is what makes modern music terrible.
        
             | im3w1l wrote:
             | It's an interesting comparison actually. I think it's more
             | common for people to say they don't like classical music
             | than that they don't like modern music. There is such a
             | huge variety of music being made that there is something
             | for everyone. Whether that's hiphop, death metal or
             | electronic.
             | 
             | But here's the thing, the same thing actually goes for
             | drawing. There are a huge number of people drawing various
             | stuff, such that anyone could find something drawn recently
             | that they would like. Whether that's murals, concept art,
             | manga, street caricatures or memes.
             | 
             | But here's the kicker: Music isn't defined to be the music
             | played by the annointed elite. But art _is_ defined as
             | drawings ( /sculptures, etc) made by the annointed elite.
        
               | staplers wrote:
               | But art is defined as drawings (/sculptures, etc) made by
               | the annointed elite.
               | 
               | This is false. It's worth distinguishing art vs popular
               | art. I know plenty of poor artists that won't be in
               | history books/museums that make very meaningful art,
               | often eventually stolen by privileged artists.
        
               | rsj_hn wrote:
               | > I think it's more common for people to say they don't
               | like classical music than that they don't like modern
               | music.
               | 
               | By "modern music", do you mean pop, jazz, or classical?
               | Each of these (and many more genres, e.g. country) all
               | have "modern" versions. But the idea of "classical" music
               | is music that was itself popular when it was contemporary
               | but has stood the test of time, so people continue to
               | listen to it and enjoy it 500 years later. The same with
               | visual arts, architecture, etc.
               | 
               | It is the same thing with literature. Some works flash
               | into popularity, but 50 years later very few have heard
               | of them or read them.
               | 
               | And so this is fundamentally a question of whether you
               | are chasing fashion or permanence. There are good and bad
               | aspects of both -- when you chase fashion you will find
               | something unique to your time, but which just a couple of
               | decades later people often laugh at or don't bother with.
               | If you chase permanence, you have to make some
               | concessions to the taste of previous generations but will
               | benefit from hearing only the best of the very best.
               | 
               | It is the exact same situation with art, or anything that
               | can be preserved across time. You have to choose between
               | something disposable but more closely suited to your
               | needs or something permanent but less suited to your
               | specific needs because it is also enjoyed by others who
               | are very different from you.
        
               | int_19h wrote:
               | Classical music was popular _with the elites_ when it was
               | contemporary. But those elites were a tiny minority of
               | the overall population.
        
               | rsj_hn wrote:
               | No, Classical music was popular _period_. But the elites
               | consumed most of the professionally performed music as it
               | was expensive, whereas other people had to rely on
               | friends and families who could play an instrument
               | themselves, or go to a place where there was a free or
               | cheap performance, for example Church. But just because
               | the elites consumed most output of professional musicians
               | did not mean that ordinary people did not consume the
               | output of amateur musicians, especially in their own
               | families, where it was not uncommon to perform music
               | after a meal or during family gatherings.
               | 
               | Many families would have at least one member who could
               | play the piano or the violin - more often the violin.
               | Here is a noted British musicologist reporting on his
               | travels through Europe:
               | 
               | "I crossed the whole Kingdom of Bohemia from south to
               | north, and being very assiduous in my enquiries, how the
               | common people learned music. I found out at length that
               | not only in every large town, but in all villages, where
               | there is a reading and writing school, children of both
               | sexes are taught music"[1].
               | 
               | Yes, many of these violins made by local luthiers were
               | cheap but by modern standards they were serviceable. In
               | terms of people who did not own their own instruments,
               | they heard organs and choral pieces in Church -- the
               | Church was the primary provider of public music at the
               | time, and sacred music was until recently the most
               | commonly performed type of music, and indeed the
               | development of Western music began with sacred music (the
               | Byzantine empire was responsible for elaborating on the
               | music of classical greece and giving us much of western
               | music theory).
               | 
               | When public operas began to open they were wildly
               | popular. Mozart wrote for one of these. This is much like
               | the situation with restaurants. Originally the elites had
               | private chefs that cooked for them. Over time, these
               | chefs began to open their own business and cook for the
               | public. Then over time, the food got cheaper with casual
               | dining.
               | 
               | But this is not to say that people didn't eat traditional
               | meals, they just cooked for themselves, as amateur cooks.
               | So with music, they performed for themselves as amateur
               | musicians. It is interesting to note that the first uses
               | of copyright were not recorded music but sheet music,
               | that people would pass around, copy, and perform for
               | themselves.
               | 
               | But "free" public music -- e.g. apart from a wealthy
               | benefactor paying for a public concert or something
               | outside of a Church -- did not become widespread until
               | the advent of the radio.
               | 
               | [1] The Present State of Music in Germany, the
               | Netherlands and United Provinces. London 1775: newly
               | edited by Percy A. Scholes as An 18th Century Musical
               | Tour in Central Europe and Netherlands. London Oxford
               | University Press, 1959) Cf. Chapter X, p. 131,32
        
           | biztos wrote:
           | It's true that some art -- and most big-P Postmodern cultural
           | products -- require a lot of prior knowledge of their context
           | in order to get much out of them, and I agree this is hostile
           | to a general audience.
           | 
           | But first, some of it does manage to be engaging and even fun
           | ; and second, I blame the universities and not the Art World
           | per se. There's a lot of very idea-centric work in the
           | museums and in private collections, but the stuff that
           | (probably) makes your eyes roll is not a big part of it. And
           | the business of speaking in a priestly tongue unintelligible
           | to the laity is absolutely a product of our (mostly US)
           | universities in the last 20 years or so. Art critics within
           | that caste do their best to promote artists of the same caste
           | -- and have done for ages -- but it only goes so far.
           | 
           | That said, this:
           | 
           | > Contemporary artists with any skill now work in classical
           | styles, illustrations, or graphic design.
           | 
           | ...is obviously and demonstrably false for, I dunno, say >=
           | 90% of all professional artists making a living at it today.
           | Which leaves you with a pretty circular definition of "skill"
           | I guess.
        
           | silicon2401 wrote:
           | > The devaluation of aesthetics in favor of meaning make it
           | unapproachable to those with no context on the subject, and
           | unappealing to even those with context.
           | 
           | This is an incredibly concise and effective summary of the
           | situation. I agree completely. I think aesthetics have really
           | been devalued in the modern world. Even comparing distant
           | lands like Ancient Rome or Ancient China, there are still
           | commonalities in their approach to aesthetics compared to
           | modern culture.
        
             | sjg007 wrote:
             | Oh to appreciate the aesthetics of pornography.
        
               | int_19h wrote:
               | It exists, e.g. DOMAI.
        
           | guardiangod wrote:
           | While I don't know anything about art to disagree with you,
           | I'd imagine people say the same thing no matter if it's 100,
           | 500, or 2000 years ago.
           | 
           | I suspect the situation is the same with old appliances- only
           | the Good Stuff survives the test of time.
        
             | tokai wrote:
             | They definitely said that about Monet and the
             | impressionists in general. Lazy brush strokes and blobs of
             | paint. People find it very pretty though and reproductions
             | hang everywhere.
        
               | dexwiz wrote:
               | The defining character of impressionists, was their
               | ability to paint in the moment. Prior to this period,
               | mixing paints was difficult, and most art was produced in
               | a studio. Industrialization gave readily mixed paints
               | that lasted. This gave people the ability to paint
               | outside, but since they would only have a few hours to
               | capture a scene due to lighting, it encouraged
               | essentially "Speed Paints." From there, its all about
               | being able to capture as much of the subject in the least
               | amount of effort.
               | 
               | Art and technology and extremely linked. We take things
               | like photo realistic paintings for granted, but these are
               | only possible because artists can paint from a color
               | photograph. Vermeers are celebrated because he was able
               | to paint in a photo realistic manner before photos. But
               | he was only able to do that with a complex setup of
               | mirrors to essentially project an image on the canvas (or
               | the eye using a split view setup).
        
               | Jugurtha wrote:
               | Still, I could not have painted like Monet or Sisley. I
               | can, however, pick a marker and a canvas and write "I
               | just did that" to reply to the "I could have done that"
               | asshole. Then I'm sure someone will come up and
               | retroactively insert some meaning into that piece of shit
               | "Ah, yes... That is the purpose of that piece. It is to
               | be discussed in a world where meaning itself is to be
               | discussed. You understood it perfectly".
               | 
               | How about someone take a massive literal dump just under
               | that metaphorical crap that says "I could have done
               | that". Technically, someone looking at the two together
               | could say the same thing about both, or mistake the piece
               | of canvas as a label for that actual steaming piece of
               | art.
        
               | imagine99 wrote:
               | I think you may have fallen prey to a common
               | misconception about art: Art - not only the modern kind -
               | has and always very much had a "first mover advantage".
               | 
               | It's not about the fact that you couldn't paint coloured
               | squares on canvas Rothko-style. Quite possibly you could.
               | It's that he did it _first_. There are tons of artists in
               | certain Chinese villages who have perfected the art of
               | pointilism possibly almost as good as Seurat (certainly
               | indistinguishable for an amateur 's eye), yet their
               | paintings sell for a couple dollars, not a couple
               | million.
               | 
               | You could also easily extrapolate your argument about
               | scribbling on the canvas to the realm of software
               | development and argue that creating e.g. Facebook or
               | Amazon or Wikipedia is really nothing special. A few
               | lines of code will get you a usable MVP. I'm sure you
               | could have done it (I'm saying this completely
               | unironically). However you didn't. Someone else did it
               | first. There may be dozens or hundreds of copycats but
               | the original idea and/or the successful marketing of said
               | idea is all that counts. The rest is noise (sometimes
               | rightfully, sometimes not).
        
               | Jugurtha wrote:
               | > _I think you may have fallen prey to a common
               | misconception about art: Art - not only the modern kind -
               | has and always very much had a "first mover advantage"._
               | 
               | There is no first mover advantage in a piece that says "I
               | could have done this". Michael Scott from The Office
               | probably did it first.
               | 
               | > _You could also easily extrapolate your argument about
               | scribbling on the canvas to the realm of software
               | development and argue that creating e.g. Facebook or
               | Amazon or Wikipedia is really nothing special._
               | 
               | That would be quite an extrapolation, though.
               | 
               | > _A few lines of code will get you a usable MVP._
               | 
               | There was a documentary about Google on a french tv
               | channel (M6) called Capital. The moment the narrator said
               | "Discover how they built a fortune with a few lines of
               | code", I left.
               | 
               | >I'm sure you could have done it (I'm saying this
               | completely unironically). However you didn't. Someone
               | else did it first.
               | 
               | I'll argue to your side: I'm not sure I could have done,
               | but I understand what you're saying and I often say this
               | to people who say "I _thought_ of that idea " when they
               | see something successful. I always retort: "Yes, I
               | thought of Uber as well. Have I built it? No. We all have
               | ideas we don't materialize".
               | 
               | Here's what I just did. Magritte style piping hot finger:
               | __________________________________________       |
               | |       |    _________________________________     |
               | |   |                                 |    |       |   |
               | |    |       |   |    I could have done that.      |    |
               | |   |                                 |    |       |
               | |_________________________________|    |       |
               | |       |                                          |
               | |        Ceci n'est pas de l'art.          |       |
               | |       |__________________________________________|
        
               | im3w1l wrote:
               | Nobody would give two shits about me or my painting if I
               | drew colored squares first.
               | 
               | Actually let me propose an experiment: Take two people:
               | One a famous artist, and one an unknown complete amateur.
               | Someone who hasn't held a brush since primary school.
               | Have them both paint 6 pieces each in a unique but low
               | technical skill style. Then randomize which artist signs
               | which piece.
               | 
               | The success of the artworks will be strongly correlated
               | with who is claimed to have drawn it, and uncorrelated
               | with who actually did.
        
               | corobo wrote:
               | Well yeah, appreciating art and owning art are different
               | things. Owning art is an investment, you want the
               | possibility of selling it to someone else with interest
               | later. Can't do that if it's not famous
               | 
               | How do you measure the success of art? I'd go with
               | eyeballs per year, you've picked sales figures, someone
               | else would probably say a third thing
        
               | im3w1l wrote:
               | Sorry for the ninja edit there, I kinda went back and
               | forth, settled on a more neutral success.
        
               | Jugurtha wrote:
               | Yes. There was that anecdote of someone bringing a
               | painting and being told it was _clearly_ a fake after
               | examination because the real one was exposed in a museum.
               | TL;DR: the one exposed in the museum was the fake, the
               | real one was stolen, and that 's the one the person
               | brought.
               | 
               | Double-blind wine experiments where people talk about
               | earthy-mushroomy-fruity tones, then have the label
               | revealed are fun.
        
               | im3w1l wrote:
               | Wine's are a little bit different imo, because there is a
               | definitely legit basis there just the border with
               | bullshit and marketing is fuzzy.
               | 
               | My take away from those double-blind experiments isn't
               | that it's all made up, but rather that people need to
               | practice more rigor.
        
               | johncena33 wrote:
               | > It's that he did it first.
               | 
               | By that logic Kim Kardashian is also a great artist.
               | Because she is the first to popularize idea of being
               | famous for being famous. As long as people, who claim
               | Pollock is a great artist, also admit that Kim Kardashian
               | is a great artist, I am good with the argument.
        
               | jdmichal wrote:
               | I'm pretty sure that was Paris Hilton?
               | 
               | In fact, from Kim Kardashian's wiki page:
               | 
               | > Kardashian first gained media attention as a friend and
               | stylist of Paris Hilton...
               | 
               | And from Paris' page:
               | 
               | > Credited with influencing the revival of the famous for
               | being famous phenomenon throughout the 2000s,[6] Hilton
               | was, for a number of years, one of the world's most
               | ubiquitous public figures.
        
             | dexwiz wrote:
             | Art has a long history, and aesthetics have changed over
             | time. Techniques like Chiaroscuro and Contrapposto come and
             | go. Highly developed cultures usually have highly developed
             | art and vice versa. Art is usually a balance of ideas and
             | aesthetics. No matter the contemporary techniques, the
             | subject matter has usually been immediately recognizable by
             | a lay viewer, and symbology can be decoded by the
             | specialist. For example: is there a dove flying through a
             | window and Mary is in the picture? That means God is
             | impregnating Mary. But even without knowing that you can
             | still understand the picture is of Mary and is religious in
             | nature.
             | 
             | Post modern art is probably the most extreme example of
             | destruction of aesthetics in the name of pure ideas.
             | Sometimes people say modern art can express feelings that
             | are inexpressible by language. But I argue that either 1)
             | there was no meaning to begin with and its all self-derives
             | and 2) it requires being a specialist to understand the
             | art. Its the ultimate appeal to ego since no interpretation
             | is wrong, since there was nothing really intended.
        
           | routerl wrote:
           | I upvoted both you and the OP, for making good, honest
           | observations.
           | 
           | And for relating stories about thoughtful, controversial
           | engagements with art. Because that's kind of the point of
           | art.
           | 
           | The Mona Lisa isn't "art" anymore; it was once, and now it's
           | a pretty artifact with a lot of historical significance. But
           | that's not art.
           | 
           | Art is the kind of thing that makes educated people say, in
           | public, "that's not art". And, thus, by its existence and the
           | reception to its existence, true art makes our conversations
           | about art richer, more emotional, and (over time) more
           | precise. And once all of the nuances of this conversation are
           | exhausted, we need new art.
           | 
           | Which is why the Mona Lisa isn't art. At least not anymore.
           | 
           | And if you disagree with that, then we need to have a deep
           | conversation about art, and history, over the course of which
           | both of us will have hopefully learned new things about both
           | art and history.
           | 
           | Art is a recursive question, not an engineering problem.
           | 
           | Edit: I should point out that this comment is intentionally
           | recursive.
        
             | jalgos_eminator wrote:
             | Honestly this is one of the most ridiculous things I've
             | read on HN, and yes I mean that perfectly literally. Its
             | almost as if this comment is itself a piece of performance
             | art, because the Mona Lisa is (sometimes literally) the
             | standard for all art (at least paintings).
        
               | drnex wrote:
               | I like to think that when you dismiss something as being
               | ridiculous, you lose the possibility of integrating it
               | into your body of knowledge. Cheers.
        
               | routerl wrote:
               | Agreed, it was a ridiculous comment. I did, however, try
               | to design that ridiculousness to make a point.
        
               | AnimalMuppet wrote:
               | For those of us who aren't subtle enough, could you state
               | your actual point?
        
               | routerl wrote:
               | Ok, you know how people thought Cantor was crazy because
               | he proposed that there were both countable and
               | uncountable infinities? In retrospect, those of us who
               | are mathematically inclined can understand the value of
               | Cantor's work, since it gave rise to set theory and many
               | more things that are clearly useful and important.
               | 
               | But they weren't always _clearly_ useful and important.
               | The value of Cantor 's work was once so _not_ clear that
               | many serious and influential people dismissed and
               | attacked it.
               | 
               | Would you like to _not_ be one of those people? Then you
               | should probably practice talking about why certain art is
               | bullshit, and certain other art isn 't bullshit, because
               | it will strengthen your "is this bullshit" muscles, so
               | you can more expertly apply those muscles to really
               | important questions, like "are self-driving cars feasible
               | within the next few years", or "do covid booster shots
               | make sense".
        
             | chrismcb wrote:
             | Art doesn't suddenly stop being art. I think what you are
             | saying is if people stop discussing a thing then it stops
             | becoming art. Art doesn't require making conversations
             | about art richer. If that were true, the Mona Lisa would
             | still be at because we still discuss it as art. But art is
             | still art, even if people stop talking about it. And if a
             | learned person days it isn't art, it probably isn't art.
        
               | routerl wrote:
               | > The Mona Lisa isn't "art" anymore; it was once, and now
               | it's a pretty artifact with a lot of historical
               | significance. But that's not art.
               | 
               | followed closely by
               | 
               | > Art is the kind of thing that makes educated people
               | say, in public, "that's not art".
               | 
               | My point lies very much between the lines.
        
           | micromacrofoot wrote:
           | No one gives a shit about classically trained painters beyond
           | upvoting their work on reddit, and even commercial
           | illustrators struggle to make ends meet. The most stable
           | avenue for working in graphic design is advertising.
           | 
           | It seems everyone has an opinion on what makes good art, but
           | no one wants to fucking pay for it. The top 1% of artists are
           | basically con artists trying to trick the rich into impulse
           | buys.
        
             | aerostable_slug wrote:
             | >impulse buys
             | 
             | Or financial instruments for all kinds of shenanigans, to
             | include tax evasion using freeports to park nearly
             | arbitrarily-priced assets (the best kind!).
        
         | silicon2401 wrote:
         | Modern art is a great example of how semantics don't change
         | reality. You can call modern art art, but the average person
         | will never put something like the pieces you described in the
         | same category as something like a Michelangelo painting.
        
           | CobrastanJorji wrote:
           | The average person is (perhaps unfortunately) not the judge
           | of art. Duchamp signed a urinal and stuck it in a museum over
           | a hundred years ago, and the average person certainly didn't
           | consider that art, and today the stupid thing is absolutely
           | in art history textbooks with Michelangelo.
           | 
           | The praise is different, to be sure. Michelangelo's work is a
           | achievement, technically, historically, and artistically.
           | Scrawling "my kid could do this" in marker and hanging it in
           | a museum isn't trying for any of that, but it does provoke
           | thought and emotion and discussion, and that's what it's
           | trying successfully to do. The artist does not expect anyone
           | to say "wow, such amazing technical talent, they must have
           | studied calligraphy for years, they are surely Michelangelo
           | reborn." Is it great art? Well, I'm not an art critic, I
           | dunno, but if I saw it in a museum it'd probably make me
           | think and feel more than some random landscape.
        
             | biztos wrote:
             | > signed a urinal and stuck it in a museum
             | 
             | ...sort-of, but not really, but sure it's in museums now.
             | More than one!
             | 
             | However, this would have been the smallest of art-
             | historical footnotes had Duchamp not then gone on to do the
             | rest of the things he did, and we put it in the art history
             | textbooks because of its (minor) place in one of the most
             | ground-breaking modern artists' development and career.
             | 
             | It's worth remembering that Michelangelo was also breaking
             | a lot of rules, and was something of a rebel within the
             | context of his time. His talent also developed within a
             | context -- the same amazing guy, born 400 years earlier or
             | later, would have been making a very different kind of art.
        
           | thrwyoilarticle wrote:
           | Isn't that survivorship bias? Most artists from any period
           | can't compete with Michelangelo. And why bother trying to
           | compete with it today when we can get a Michelangelo print
           | for one millionth of the price?
        
         | dan_quixote wrote:
         | Is it not just a case of survivorship bias? I'd expect that the
         | historical stuff in museums is carefully (not randomly)
         | selected. There were probably all kinds of crap art from the
         | same era that simply got trashed.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | Last time I went to MOMA, there was a huge composition that
         | looked like an all-black canvas. Didn't look out of place. But
         | when you get closer, find that it's covered in a thick layer of
         | dead flies. It was a hoot. Take or leave the composition
         | itself; the biggest fun was in watching other patrons' reaction
         | to the piece.
         | 
         | When I buy art, it's usually from folks who live on the street,
         | not from galleries.
         | 
         | edit: found it https://www.damienhirst.com/texts1/series/fly
        
           | NautilusWave wrote:
           | What a ride from "I could do that!" to "Why would anyone do
           | that!?"
        
       | ketanmaheshwari wrote:
       | Given the resulting publicity and buzz this has gotten, I'd think
       | the money spent was worth it from the museum's point of view.
        
         | tokai wrote:
         | The money was never to be spend, the museum loaned them to the
         | artist. They were suppose to be used as the literal material
         | for the commissioned art work.
        
           | moate wrote:
           | Partially incorrect. The artist was paid a fee as well as
           | provided money to use for the piece and to purchase/frame it.
           | This article didn't make entirely clear which of that money
           | they're asking for.
        
             | wil421 wrote:
             | > Haaning signed a contract with the Kunsten, promising to
             | deliver the artwork and to return the $84,000.
             | 
             | It's pretty clear the $84k was for the art and the ~$7k was
             | for the expenses to create the art.
        
         | moate wrote:
         | Imagine the (very?) likely clown shoes scenario of the museum
         | holding him in breach of contract, being required to return the
         | pieces, and then watching them sell for a cool million at
         | auction.
         | 
         | Look at what just happened with the Banksy shredder piece for
         | example.
        
       | usmannk wrote:
       | "Haaning took the money as part of an agreement with the Kunsten,
       | which says it loaned Haaning more than half a million kroner so
       | he could frame the cash in a reprise of an earlier artwork."
       | 
       | They didn't just commission him to make art. The museum
       | contracted him to reproduce a particular piece of art, which
       | Haaning did not do.
        
         | jdavis703 wrote:
         | > The museum contracted him to reproduce a particular piece of
         | art, which Haaning did not do.
         | 
         | He did make art fulfilling the concept that was discussed. The
         | museum director said as much and it sounds like the art will
         | still be exhibited.
         | 
         | The problem is that the museum loaned out materials to make the
         | art and the artist did not return those materials. It'd be like
         | if you let a handyman borrow some of your tools, and they
         | completed the job and took your tools.
        
           | pilsetnieks wrote:
           | > Haaning signed a contract with the Kunsten, promising to
           | deliver the artwork and to return the $84,000. The artist now
           | faces a deadline to give the museum its money back on Jan.
           | 16, when the work exhibition closes. The museum says it's
           | talking with him about that deadline; it also acknowledges
           | that Haaning did produce a provocative piece of work.
           | 
           | There is no problem. He will return the money (materials)
           | when the deadline comes. If he doesn't by then, then they'll
           | have a problem.
        
         | pilsetnieks wrote:
         | They said there's a contract in place and he'll return the
         | money either way. In this case the artist produced something
         | else than contracted to; they took it in good fun and
         | apparently got pretty good publicity out of that, and they'll
         | still get the money back.
         | 
         | Unless someone decides to turn on the lawsuit machine,
         | everyone's a winner here.
        
         | yholio wrote:
         | But if they had paid him to create completely new art, it
         | wouldn't have been an authentic performance of "Take the money
         | and run", but a mere simulacrum. The breach of contract _is_
         | the artwork.
        
           | VanillaCafe wrote:
           | Nice. And now the museum can create a piece of art in
           | response called "Repercussions". (Or, maybe it was all one
           | piece of art all along.)
        
             | yholio wrote:
             | I like it. They could request the judge that he serves his
             | time inside the museum itself, in a cell prepared just for
             | him where visitors can observe his daily routine. He will
             | not only participate in one of the greatest modern art
             | performances of all time, but he will indeed _become_ the
             | artwork.
        
               | ineedasername wrote:
               | And at the end they could burn the artist and issue an
               | NFT.
        
               | ASalazarMX wrote:
               | An NFT? More like one NFT for every of his screams while
               | he's burning to death, and they wouldn't record any so
               | the screams can't be duplicated.
               | 
               | 1 year later... the artist is alive and well, enjoying a
               | mojito on a Cuban beach with a satisfied smile.
        
             | idiotsecant wrote:
             | That would actually be pretty interesting as art, I think.
        
             | thrwyoilarticle wrote:
             | It's been done...
             | 
             | https://www.antepavilion.org/hackney-fight
        
               | pchristensen wrote:
               | I beg you, if you have gotten this far, watch this 10
               | minute video about the above link -
               | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xhdL8BPvU
               | 
               | It's one of the most entertaining things I've seen this
               | year.
        
           | IshKebab wrote:
           | Clearly it is art _and_ heist. But the law doesn 't care too
           | much if your crime is a work of art.
        
             | pishpash wrote:
             | We can call it "art crime".
        
               | rvbissell wrote:
               | No, no, it's "crime art".
        
             | sjg007 wrote:
             | Hmm maybe fraud? Breach of contract at most? Not a crime.
             | Arguably he delivered something. It could also been just an
             | invisible artwork.
             | 
             | Was the money supposed to be in the artwork as a medium?
             | Maybe there's a Bitcoin address on the frame or something.
        
         | lapetitejort wrote:
         | From what I understand from the article, the museum gave him
         | physical cash in which to use as the medium, along with money
         | to pay for his labor (more that two times the quoted value, as
         | well). In all, he received ~28 times the amount of money
         | quoted. Pretty scummy thing to do, even if "provocative."
        
           | pavel_lishin wrote:
           | He has until January to return it. Although he broke the
           | terms of the contract, the museum seems happy enough with the
           | results so far - so long as he actually returns the money, it
           | sounds like everything will be fine and non-scummy.
           | 
           | > _The artist now faces a deadline to give the museum its
           | money back on Jan. 16, when the work exhibition closes. The
           | museum says it 's talking with him about that deadline_
        
             | tokai wrote:
             | Well he has said that he won't return them at the deadline.
             | But I guess he has to say that for now.
        
             | ASalazarMX wrote:
             | I have a hard time believing this happened as the museum
             | describes, because everyone will know this man has a large
             | sum of cash sitting in his home/shop for three months.
             | There had to be preparations to keep the money safe during
             | the exhibition.
        
       | yial wrote:
       | After reading about this, I'm convinced that it's mostly
       | marketing.
       | 
       | He's supposed to return the money in 2022. If he doesn't, I'll be
       | convinced that this wasn't just a marketing stunt after he
       | thought up an alternative.
       | 
       | He thought up a fun way to play with this concept of being handed
       | so much in cash... the museum then went along with this idea.
       | 
       | The resulting publicity, and that fact that the money is supposed
       | to be returned... really seems like brilliant marketing.
        
         | Leparamour wrote:
         | Unless his newly found fame attracts another group of more
         | physical extraction "artists".
        
       | endisneigh wrote:
       | I'll remember this when my AI for reproducing art is operational.
       | 
       | I'll do the same thing as this artist, but at scale.
        
         | ModernMech wrote:
         | Art at scale is no longer art, it's kitsch.
        
         | cjohansson wrote:
         | Great idea. When I'm finished with my AI that produces AIs to
         | make money I will do the same
        
       | colpabar wrote:
       | I'm honestly very surprised there's no mention of banksy's
       | shredder stunt in the piece. I would have thought an artist would
       | somehow try to portray themselves as being as cool as banksy.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXKE0nAMmg4
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | mongol wrote:
       | (Google Translated)
       | 
       | Liljevalch's benches were designed by the art gallery's architect
       | Carl Bergsten, but it is the artist Dan Wolgers who has made them
       | famous.
       | 
       | Before a group exhibition at Liljevalch's in the autumn of 1992,
       | in which Dan Wolgers would participate, he - as his only
       | contribution - removed two of the art gallery's benches and sold
       | them at Stockholm's Auktionsverk. The whole thing was a protest
       | against the low exhibition fees that artists were offered by the
       | country's art institutions. According to Dan Wolger's
       | calculations, the rather modest sum from the sale of the benches
       | would correspond to a reasonable compensation for his
       | participation in Liljevalchs. He was reported to the police by
       | private individuals, received a suspended sentence and a 60-day
       | fine. When the letter with the court decision and payment card
       | arrived, he sold it unopened to a collector and thus earned the
       | fine together. Liljevalchs bought back the benches and showed
       | them at the exhibition to a very interested audience.
       | 
       | https://liljevalchs.se/butiken/tandstickor-banken/
       | 
       | Edit: Apparently, a matchbox with an illustration of the benches
       | can now be purchased in the museum's gift shop.
        
         | mongol wrote:
         | Dan Wolgers was also contracted to design the cover of the
         | Stockholm phonebook (yellow pages). His contribution? His name
         | and phone number on the front page.
         | 
         | https://bukowskis.com/sv/lots/874985-dan-wolgers-telefonkata...
        
       | smnrchrds wrote:
       | He transitioned from artist to con artist.
        
         | jareklupinski wrote:
         | can't wait to see more work coming from this brave new branch
         | of 'con art' :^)
        
           | klyrs wrote:
           | Can I interest you in a NFT?
        
           | smnrchrds wrote:
           | I hear he is working on the architecture of an oceanfront
           | property in Switzerland next. If you move fast, you may be
           | able to buy it.
        
       | TigeriusKirk wrote:
       | By the contemporary conception of art, this is definitely art.
       | Perhaps even brilliant art.
        
         | fullshark wrote:
         | Contemporary Art - Something "clever" that appreciation of
         | signals to others that you aren't a member of the bourgeois.
        
       | dcanelhas wrote:
       | I feel like there is a parallel between this and NFTs to be made
       | but I don't think I understand enough about either to phrase it
       | adequately. Superficially though, I believe the price paid for
       | those specific canvases make them "non-fungible" (I don't think
       | the museum would just throw them away now) and I guess one could
       | argue that they qualify as tokens, too.
        
       | Ansil849 wrote:
       | This beats the con artistry of NFT scams any day.
        
       | delaynomore wrote:
       | This artist just one-upped Robert Rauschenberg
       | 
       | Ref: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/40/639
        
       | esjeon wrote:
       | The act of violating the contract (w/ the museum) itself is the
       | _art_ -work here.
       | 
       | On another side, I think this is quite a good deal for the
       | museum. This story is pretty popular on the internet in many
       | countries, and $84k sounds pretty cheap for an international ad
       | campaign. Plus, the artist is still delivering a kind of modern
       | art.
        
       | pcurve wrote:
       | Considering the publicity, I think both parties benefited. The
       | only loser is general public.
       | 
       | Having majored in fine arts, I appreciate all kinds of art forms.
       | Even Banksy's work demonstrates mastery of the medium. Hell, I'd
       | challenge most people to recreate Rothko's paintings.
       | 
       | But this? It's an expression. It's a commentary. It can be a lot
       | of things. But to me, it's not art.
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | Art if you attach the context
        
       | outlog wrote:
       | "Good artists borrow, great artists steal."
       | 
       | - Steve Jobs/Picasso/Stravinsky/Eliot
        
         | cm2187 wrote:
         | And in my opinion this is some fuckery between consenting
         | adults.
        
         | jareklupinski wrote:
         | - jareklupinski
        
         | awb wrote:
         | To be clear, they're talking about ideas and the adaptation of
         | those ideas, not literally stealing cash or property.
         | 
         | "Good artists borrow [by modifying ideas], great artists steal
         | [by copying ideas]."
        
           | alpaca128 wrote:
           | The stealing part doesn't refer to directly copying ideas (I
           | mean what great artist would do that?), more how good artists
           | instead are able to use other works as inspiration, "make it
           | their own" and put their spin on it.
        
             | awb wrote:
             | The way I always understood it is that good artists put
             | their spin on it.
             | 
             | Great artists realize perfection when they see it and just
             | copy it, without trying to "improve" it, usually from
             | lesser known, less successful artists so they get away with
             | it.
        
             | gowld wrote:
             | Right. In Jobs world, that meant stuff like taking existing
             | Chinese tech and making it into something with worldwide
             | wow/cool factor.
        
               | JumpCrisscross wrote:
               | > _Jobs world, that meant stuff like taking existing
               | Chinese tech_
               | 
               | It was a reference to Apple apocryphally stealing "the
               | mouse, windows, icons, and other technologies that had
               | been developed at [Xerox] PARC" [1].
               | 
               | They didn't copy an existing product. They deprived Xerox
               | of the market into which to launch their own product.
               | 
               | [1] https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html
        
               | ooer wrote:
               | You got me curious. Which Chinese tech did he steal to
               | make the iProducts with?
        
           | falcor84 wrote:
           | </That's The Joke>
        
         | alpaca128 wrote:
         | This quote doesn't have anything to do with literal theft,
         | though:
         | 
         | https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/03/06/artists-steal/
        
           | deeblering4 wrote:
           | Depends on your outlook towards intellectual property
        
       | Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
       | At least he had the decency not to leave his excrements [1]
       | behind, claiming it to be an art object, like that other guy. So
       | I guess it is not the worst example of contemporary art.
       | 
       | [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist%27s_Shit
        
       | sakopov wrote:
       | This reminds me of a man who ate the exhibit at a Miami museum
       | consisting of a banana taped to a wall and then proclaimed that
       | it was an art performance [1]. The exhibit was supposedly going
       | for $120K-150K.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/performance-artist-
       | eats...
        
       | kyleblarson wrote:
       | Well it works for Hunter Biden so why not?
        
       | hedora wrote:
       | I'm hoping some smart ass offers to buy it from the artist for
       | $100,000, but only on the condition that he not return the money
       | to the museum.
       | 
       | Clearly the museum got a good deal; good luck showing damages in
       | court! Mwuhahah.
        
       | TheRealNGenius wrote:
       | Well would you look at that, according to my criteria [1] that's
       | not art!
       | 
       | [1] https://wndr.xyz/posts/9fjM1tOJO7MWX4fYw3AU2Q==/what-s-
       | art-a...
        
       | jboggan wrote:
       | "And then you get an artist / He says he doesn't want to paint at
       | all / He takes an empty canvas / And sticks it on the wall"
       | 
       | - Dire Straits, "In The Gallery" (1979)
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-v6JeolLzw&t=8s
        
       | dmitrygr wrote:
       | This is hilarious on so many levels
       | 
       | My suggestion to him: Turn in a new artwork next week: the money
       | shredded.
       | 
       | Call it "you greedy bastards"
       | 
       | It can be explained as a revolt against the existing power
       | structures in the financial world, where the poor are only
       | noticed when they cause unrest.
        
       | timwaagh wrote:
       | I think it's brilliant. Hope they let him keep it.
       | 
       | ...But why all the commentary on social inequality? It's more
       | than a little... rich
        
       | spywaregorilla wrote:
       | While walking around Germany I found a truck that appeared to be
       | a traveling dadaist art museum. It was unattended and you could
       | walk in and see a bunch of shelves with exhibit labels. The
       | shelves were all empty. I was not sure if that was intended. Or
       | if perhaps it was actually a traveling museum and it's pieces
       | were being exhibited somewhere.
        
       | aussiegreenie wrote:
       | Those two works have generated more publicity and awareness of
       | the artist than anything he/she has produced. The Gallery should
       | be ecstatic.
       | 
       | Personally, my guess he/she has doubled the value of his/hers
       | existing works.
        
       | SkipperCat wrote:
       | With enough press like this, the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art
       | might make that money back in visitors. Art can be just as much
       | about absurdity as it can be about talent. Just look at Marcel
       | Duchamp.
        
       | stuff4ben wrote:
       | Good reminder to never pay upfront for work (or art in this
       | case).
        
       | cfup wrote:
       | Can't wait for this kind of art in NFT form! /s
        
         | vvarren wrote:
         | Be careful what you wish for
         | https://opensea.io/collection/take-the-money-and-run
        
       | onemoresoop wrote:
       | To me all this cleverness has become a bit boring. I am aware
       | that there is a story behind all these "masterpieces" and the
       | story makes the art more or less, but it's become such a
       | predictable trick-fest that I stopped paying attention. It's not
       | even an original statement, it's been done countless times
       | before. Am I missing anything?
        
       | klyrs wrote:
       | Upon some reflection, I have decided that this is indeed art.
       | It's clearly in the succession of Dadaism; a critique of art
       | critique. It opens up for a _very_ peculiar legal challenge.
       | Every blank canvas sold after today can be seen as a derivative
       | or blatant copy of this work. I 'd love to see this artist sue a
       | producer of blank canvases for royalties. Alternatively, if he
       | didn't make the frame and stretch the canvas himself, the
       | manufacturer can likewise sue the artist. _Please_ let this make
       | it as far as the courts. I 'll make popcorn.
        
       | anonu wrote:
       | The publicity towards the museum is worth every penny of that
       | $84k.
       | 
       | The best part is the work is fairly unreproducible now. Few
       | artists will dare deliver blank canvases.
        
       | _fat_santa wrote:
       | I think this is brilliant. Art is supposed to inspire emotion and
       | tell a story. Thought doing it in a different way, this piece
       | quite literally demonstrates the purest form of "story behind the
       | art".
       | 
       | No doubt the artist will be giving the money back, this seems to
       | be too perfect not to be the plan from the getgo. My only
       | question is, was the museum aware of this plan from the start and
       | is the "omg where's out money" is just manufactured for the
       | marketing.
       | 
       | Either way whether just for marketing or the entire point of the
       | art piece, brilliant.
        
         | anonu wrote:
         | Why would you be so sure the money will be returned?
        
       | PerkinWarwick wrote:
       | This man is a genius. We've hit Peak Modern Art.
       | 
       | Honestly, you can't buy this kind of PR. Do a dozen more, number
       | and sign them on the back, profit.
        
       | jayspell wrote:
       | Two things I would say about this...
       | 
       | 1.) It's honest 2.) It's better than most modern / contemporary
       | art
        
       | bhouston wrote:
       | Gotta love artists doing the unexpected and then presenting it as
       | art. It is sometimes a fine line, because if you go too far,
       | people may not buy it. But then maybe you make a media discussion
       | about it, and you get more famous!
        
         | gowld wrote:
         | When anything anyone does is "art" just because someone reacts
         | to it in some way, it's just "person" not "artist".
         | 
         | My farts are art. I'm a fartist.
        
           | YeGoblynQueenne wrote:
           | There have been such artists before.
           | 
           |  _Le Petomane_
           | 
           |  _Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 - August 8, 1945), best known by
           | his stage name Le Petomane ( /l@'pet@meIn/,[citation needed]
           | French pronunciation: [l@petoman]), was a French flatulist
           | (professional farter) and entertainer. He was famous for his
           | remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled
           | him to seemingly fart at will. His stage name combines the
           | French verb peter, "to fart" with the -mane, "-maniac"
           | suffix, which translates to "fartomaniac". The profession is
           | referred to as "flatulist", "farteur", or "fartiste".[1]_
           | 
           |  _It was a common misconception that Joseph Pujol passed
           | intestinal gas as part of his stage performance. Rather,
           | Pujol was allegedly able to "inhale" or move air into his
           | rectum and then control the release of that air with his anal
           | sphincter muscles. Evidence of his ability to control those
           | muscles was seen in the early accounts of demonstrations of
           | his abilities to fellow soldiers.[2]_
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | ralfn wrote:
         | Especially with an idea as original as this.
        
           | cosmotic wrote:
           | I suspect this was sarcasm? This is certainly not novel.
        
             | Ansil849 wrote:
             | > This is certainly not novel.
             | 
             | Which other artist has done it?
        
               | colinmhayes wrote:
               | https://www.moma.org/collection/works/114939
        
               | thrwaway9871 wrote:
               | Every con artist ever. Pun intended.
        
       | szarnyasg wrote:
       | Casey Neistat did something similar in 2012, although he returned
       | something resembling a commercial video and not a blank canvas.
       | 
       | > After arriving at an agreed-upon treatment with Nike for its
       | latest commercial, director Casey Neistat literally took the
       | money and ran-filming a trip around the world on Nike's dime, and
       | presenting the footage as the ad.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfZkMm3wcg
       | 
       | [2] https://www.fastcompany.com/1680524/how-director-casey-
       | neist...
        
         | gowld wrote:
         | He created at actual ad, not just a resemblance. Ads are
         | usually arbitrary fluff plus a logo.
        
           | YeGoblynQueenne wrote:
           | >> Ads are usually arbitrary fluff plus a logo.
           | 
           | Just like superhero movies.
        
         | dpiers wrote:
         | It's a 4 1/2 minute video promoting the product that has been
         | viewed 32 million times. Considering it likely cost Nike <$50K
         | and average YouTube ad CPM is ~$3.50, it may be one of the most
         | successful social media ads Nike has ever produced.
        
         | akyu wrote:
         | They paid him to direct an ad and he directed an ad. You are
         | falling for the marketing my friend.
        
         | max46 wrote:
         | it's a very different situation. The money the artist stole
         | never belonged to him, it wasn't his salary or a budget he was
         | allowed to spend on the fabrication of the art. He had a
         | specific contract and he was paid to take that 84k$ and lay it
         | on a canvas to replicate a previous art piece he had done. The
         | cash was supposed to be returned to the museum after.
        
           | Leparamour wrote:
           | So more along the lines of embezzlement?
        
       | maldeh wrote:
       | "Art is what you can get away with."
       | 
       | - Andy Warhol
        
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       (page generated 2021-09-29 23:03 UTC)