- A Danish artist received $84,000 from a museum for a specific work of art, but instead of the pieces he was supposed to produce, he delivered two blank canvases titled “Take the Money and Run.”
- “Everyone would like to have more money and, in our society, work industries are valued differently,” artist Jens Haaning stated. “The artwork is essentially about the working conditions of artists.”
- “It is a statement saying that we also have the responsibility of questioning the structures that we are part of. And if these structures are completely unreasonable, we must break with them. It can be your marriage, your work – it can be any type of societal structure” -Jens Haaning
Caitlin O’Kane from CBS News writes:
“A Danish artist was given $84,000 by a museum to use in a work of art. When he delivered the piece he was supposed to make, it was not as promised. Instead, the artist, Jens Haaning, gave the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark two blank canvases and said they were titled “Take the Money and Run.”
Haaning was asked to recreate two of his previous works: 2010’s “An Average Danish Annual Income” and “An Average Austrian Annual Income,” first exhibited in 2007. Both used actual cash to show the average incomes of the two countries, according to a news release from the artist.
In addition to compensation for the work, Haaning was also give bank notes to use in the work, museum director Lasse Andersson told CBS News via email. Their contract even stated the museum would give Haaning an additional 6,000 euros to update the work, if needed, Andersson said. At the time the works were initially exhibited, the Danish piece highlighted the average income of 328,000 kroner, approximately $37,800, while the average Austrian salary illustrated was around €25,000, or $29,000…”
See full story here.
Categories: Business, International, Politics
Economic Left 
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