Art, Denmark | The Dane received 730,000 kroner from the museum – live this: – Breach of contract is part of the work
Got to borrow money for the exhibition – it did not go as the museum had hoped.
Last week, the art museum Kunsten in Aalborg opened one exhibition called “Work it Out”. The exhibition asks questions about what work really is and why we work.
Two canvases in the exhibition are almost completely blank, except for a couple of stickers, reports DR.
The reason is quite simple: The Danish artist Jens Haaning had to borrow 534,000 Danish kroner (just over 730,000 Norwegian kroner) in cash from the museum to recreate for works of art he previously had team.
These showed a Danish and an Austrian annual income in kroner and euro on their respective canvases, respectively, and the idea now was that the cash should be pasted on the canvas.
But the artist did not choose this. Instead, he has created a brand new work consisting of a glossy canvas, with the apt name «Take the Money And Run».
– The artwork is that it is missing half a million, says Haaning, when he explains himself to the Danish program P1 Morgen.
According to agreements between the artist and the museum, the cash must be returned when the exhibition is over in January 2022, writes DR.
– No, I do not. The artwork is that I have taken their money, says the artist, who adds that the work is a protest against the salaries that the museum offers.
He says the salaries are so bad that he would have lost the entire project if he had not done so.
Also read: The “waste ombudsman” speaks out after the brawl: – They tried to portray me as a monster
Museum director Lasse Andersson, acknowledges that Haaning has created and interesting works of art.
– I will definitely give Jens the right that he has created and works that actually comment on the exhibition we have. But it is not agreed we had, says Andersson to DR.
He denies that the museum has not offered Haaning a fair salary. At present, he will not comment that he will report cases to the police in January if they cannot use the money back.
Also read: Norway’s best-selling artist settles with the artist community
The artist stands his ground and says money cannot be returned. He denies that there is talk of a theft:
– No, it’s not theft. It is a breach of contract, and the breach of contract is part of the work of art, he says.