A Danish artist has declared that his act of taking money from a museum was a ‘work of art’.
The artist was given 534,000 kroner ($84,000) from the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art to use as part of an artwork, however instead, he kept the cash for himself.
Jens Haaning was asked to recreate a previous installation by the museum, which is located in Aalborg, northern Denmark. However, he edited the work by taking the money that was required for it and even went so far as to revamp the title.
The museum gave Haaning the money on the basis that he would recreate an earlier work that had the annual incomes of an Austrian and a Dane on display.
However, upon receiving the box containg the installation that Haaning had shipped to them, the museum found that all of the cash had been taken out of the two glass frames, Bloomberg reported.
Furthermore, to rub salt in the wound, the installation’s name had been changed to ‘Take the Money and Run’.
Haaning told DR, how ‘the work of art is that [he] took their money’.
Despite being demanded to return the cash, Haaning is reportedly declining the request.
According to Bloomberg, if Haaning hasn’t given back the sum of cash by the end of January, which is when the exhibition ends, the museum has been considering reporting him to the police.
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