World of the Bizarre

Artist steals money, calls theft 'work of art'

By T.K. Randall
September 29, 2021 ·  4 comments

It does not look as though Haaning intends to return the cash. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Lionel Allorge According to reports, Danish artist Jens Haaning had received 534,000 Danish krone from the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg with the expectation that he would recreate two of his previous works that literally framed the bank notes themselves as an artistic depiction of the relationship between art and working life.

Instead, however, Haaning seemingly did a runner with the money in protest over what he described as "miserable" working conditions and low pay.

Having returned two empty picture frames to the museum, he took things one step further by declaring that his theft of the money was itself a work out art he had entitled "Take the Money and Run.""No, it's not going to happen," Haaning was quoted as saying when approached about returning the stolen money to the museum. "The work is that I have taken their money."

The commissioned work, he argued, would have required him to pay over 3,300 Euros of his own money, as oppose to actually earning him money for the time put in to making it.

"I encourage other people who have working conditions as miserable as mine to do the same," he said. "If they're sitting in some ****ty job and not getting paid, and are actually being asked to pay money to go to work, then grab what you can and beat it."

The museum is expected to take legal action early next year if the money is not returned.

Source: Euro News | Comments (4)

Tags: Modern Art