A museum says they gave an artist $84,000 in cash to use in artwork. He delivered blank canvases and titled them "Take the Money and Run."
BY CAITLIN O'KANE
A Danish artist was given $84,000
by a museum to use in a work of art. When he delivered the piece he was supposed
to make, it was not as promised. Instead, the artist, Jens Haaning, gave the
Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark two blank canvases and said
they were titled "Take the Money and Run."
Haaning was asked to recreate two
of his previous works: 2010's "An Average Danish Annual Income" and
"An Average Austrian Annual Income," first exhibited in 2007. Both
used actual cash to show the average incomes of the two countries, according to
a news release from the artist.
In addition to compensation for
the work, Haaning was also give bank notes to use in the work, museum director
Lasse Andersson told CBS News via email. Their contract even stated the museum
would give Haaning an additional 6,000 euros to update the work, if needed,
Andersson said. At the time the works were initially exhibited, the Danish
piece highlighted the average income of 328,000 kroner, approximately $37,800,
while the average Austrian salary illustrated was around €25,000, or $29,000.
For the "Work it Out"
exhibit at the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Haaning was meant to fill frames
with money. But they were empty.
"We also have a contract
that the money $84,000 US dollars to be displayed in the work is not Jens' and
that it must be paid back when the exhibition closes on 16 January 2022,"
Andersson said.
"The exhibition is called
'Work it Out' and features works of art by many different contemporary
artists," he said, adding that the exhibition It runs from September 24 to
January 16, 2022.
Andersson said when they spoke to
the artist about making the piece earlier this year, he agreed to the contract
and "he indicated a fairly easy job."
But when it came time for Haaning
to actually deliver, he did the unexpected.
"The curator received an
email in which Jens Haaning wrote that he had made a new piece of art work and
changed the work title into 'Take the Money and Run,'" Andersson said.
"Subsequently, we could ascertain that the money had not been put into the
work."
Indeed, the frames meant to be
filled with cash were empty.
"The staff was very
surprised when they opened the crates. I was abroad when the crates were
opened, but suddenly received a lot of mails," Andersson said.
When he finally saw "Take
the Money and Run," Andersson said he actually laughed. "Jens is
known for his conceptual and activistic art with a humoristic touch. And he
gave us that – but also a bit of a wake up call as everyone know wonders were
did the money go," he said.
According to Haaning's press
release, "the idea behind was to show how salaries can be used to measure
the value of work and to show national differences within the European Union.
But by changing the title of the work to "Take the Money and Run"
Haaning "questions artists' rights and their working conditions in order
to establish more equitable norms within the art industry."
"Everyone would like to have
more money and, in our society, work industries are valued differently,"
Haaning said in a statement. "The artwork is essentially about the working
conditions of artists. It is a statement saying that we also have the
responsibility of questioning the structures that we are part of. And if these
structures are completely unreasonable, we must break with them. It can be your
marriage, your work - it can be any type of societal structure".
Andersson said while it wasn't
what they had agreed on in the contract, the museum got new and interesting
art. "When it comes to the amount of $84,000, he hasn't broke any contract
yet as the initial contract says we will have the money back on January 16th
2022."
He said they are in contact with
Haaning, who he called a "well-respected and well-known artist in
Denmark." But they have yet to reach an agreement.