An interesting incident took place in Maurizio Cattelan's exhibition titled "WE" at an art museum in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, recently.
An art student who said he was hungry ate an artwork called "Comedian", which was attached to a wall with duct tape as part of Cattelan's installation.
After eating the banana, the student named Noh Huyn-soo taped the peel back to the wall.
According to the news in the local press, the museum stated that it placed a new banana in the same spot after the incident and stated that the banana on display was already changed every two or three days.
Saying that he sees Cattelan's work as a revolt against a certain authority, Noh said, "It could be another rebellion against rebellion. Damaging a work of art can also be viewed as a work of art, I thought it would be interesting. Wasn't it taped to be eaten there?" said.
After the incident, Cattelan stated that the situation in question was not a problem.
The Leeum Art Museum said it would not seek compensation from Seoul National University student Noh. The moments when Noh ate the banana were recorded moment by moment by his friend.
A similar work of Cattelan, which was sold for 120,000 dollars in 2019 at Art Basel in Miami, Florida, USA, was defeated by performance artist David Datuna. The banana was quickly replaced after the incident.
(Ihlas News Agency)