Artist Who Pocketed Banknotes From His Own Artwork Loses Court Case

In 2021, the Kunsten Museum of Fashionable Artwork Aalborg in northern Denmark gave artist Jens Haaning 534,000 kroner (~$76,560 right this moment) value of banknotes to bodily incorporate into two artworks. The artist is understood for creating items adorned with foreign money. On this case, nonetheless, Haaning pocketed the money and submitted two clean canvases to the museum as an alternative, declaring that taking the cash was a part of his new sequence fittingly titled Take the Money and Run. At the moment, September 18, a Danish court ordered that Haaning should repay the establishment.

The Kunsten Museum wished Haaning to recreate two 2007 and 2010 works wherein he organized banknotes on canvases to symbolize the typical revenue of individuals in Denmark and Austria. The museum gave Haaning the typical revenue of a Danish particular person in money — 534,000 kroner — to make an analogous new work. Haaning was not supposed to maintain any of that cash; his compensation for the fee was 10,000 kroner (~$1,600 in 2021) plus bills.

“The work is that I’ve taken their cash,” Haaning instructed radio program P1 Morgen. “I encourage different individuals who have simply as depressing working circumstances as me to do the identical.”

The museum positioned the 2 clean canvases in an exhibition titled Work it Out, which examined altering concepts about labor. Museum Director Lasse Andersson even instructed Hyperallergic again in 2021 that though Haaning’s closing product was not what was agreed upon, “we bought new and attention-grabbing artwork.” Andersson additionally stated that the museum would “take the required steps” to make sure the artist complied along with his contract if he didn’t return the cash by January 16, 2022.

However Haaning disagreed. “That is solely a bit of artwork if I don’t return the cash,” he instructed the New York Times in 2021. Haaning has not but responded to Hyperallergic’s instant request for remark.

Haaning didn’t return the money, and as promised, the museum filed a declare demanding that he pay it again. Haaning filed for an acquittal and for the museum to pay him 550,000 kroner (~$50,800) in compensation for the 2 clean canvases, a request that was denied. Haaning now has 4 weeks to enchantment the court docket’s determination. For now, he’ll be handing the museum 492,549 kroner (~$70,650) — the unique money sum minus Haaning’s fee and viewing charge.