After making blank canvasses, a Danish institution asks the artist to repay the money
A Danish museum wants an artist to return roughly 534,000 kroner ($83,000) he was given in cash to recreate ancient artworks using banknotes.
The Kunsten Museum commissioned Jens Haaning, a Danish artist.
He was instructed to duplicate two of his works, one reflecting the annual pay in Denmark and the other depicting the annual salary in Austria. The artist, on the other hand, kept the money and created the blank canvasses. So far, the museum’s response has been divided.
“He riled up my curatorial team, and he riled up me a little,” Lasse Andersson, director of the museum in the city of Aalborg, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Mr. Andersson, on the other hand, was certain that the money would be repaid when the show was over. It’s the money of the museum, and we have a contract that says the money will be returned on January 16th, he explained.
Mr. Haaning, 56, however, has vowed to keep the money. He told Dr. Dk, “The work is that I have taken their money.” “I advise other people in similarly deplorable working situations to do the same,” he added, adding that duplicating his previous work would have cost him 25,000 kroner.
Mr. Andersson, on the other hand, told the BBC that Mr. Haaning’s claim that the museum had not agreed to pay him adequately was false.
“We just reached an arrangement with the Danish artists’ association that increases the amount of money awarded to artists when they exhibit,” he stated.
“I believe Jens has broken the agreement.”
