380
Employee Quietly Sneaks His Own Painting Onto the Walls of a German Museum
(www.smithsonianmag.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Tom Green did this decades ago.
Banksy too.
Binder paper. Tight.
They didn't say how long his painting stayed up before it was noticed.
If it was more than a week, I say don't fire the dude, give them a grant.
Honestly I'd admire his bravado and leave it up. Makes for an interesting story for the museum.
Banksy snuck an artwork into the British Museum. They put it up in a real exhibition years later.
I was going to reply to another comment that if Bansky did this, they'd all be jacking each other off to get a look. Turns out that already happened.
Yeah, but it also meant he got to be on display in the gallery without the clout chasing and schmoozing normally required, and I'm sure they feel that has to be punished.
I colored a dollar store canvas at a brewery with my friend. When we were done we hung it on a nail sticking out of the brewery wall. It stayed up for over 6 months until one day I notice it’s not there. I’m ok with it, had fun seeing it there while it lasted. Went back last and week and saw they had just redecorated and moved it to the bathroom! What joy! It lives on!
That's wonderful!
why does nobody tell us what the artwork was
In a previous article on this topic, I recall the museum saying they would not be showing the piece in an effort to discourage copycats.
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Right? There's like one point of interest in this story, and instead of showing it they're estimating how much it costs to fill 2 screw holes (for which the claimed €100 seems like a gross overestimation unless they pay their maintenance staff way more than I expect).
That's what makes me mad. I want to see it.
Fired and a possible jail time for an amusing stunt?
The man attached the painting to the exhibition wall with two screws, leaving behind drill holes.
...
The total damage is estimated at around €100 ($107).
...
He is under investigation for property damage—and if he is convicted, he could face up to two years in prison, per CNN.
100 clams to patch and paint two drill holes?! Are they hiring?
Only if you market your skills as artisanal work
Yea, that is nonsense. While the law says "Anyone who unlawfully damages or destroys another person's property is liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding two years or a monetary penalty." this basically never happens. He likely will get a small fine (if any).
Do actually get the 2 years you would have to do some very serious damage. As example a couple of years ago someone got 2 years (on probation) because he set fire to the restaurant he was working on.
You won't be locked up here for 2 years because you drilled a few holes in the wall...
like it's not usual to remodel rooms in museum
but I guess they have to discourage people from doing it before it becomes a trend
2 years is insane for what seems like a harmless prank though. It′s maybe an issue with how law is defined, similar to stories when you become a sex offender by doing public urination. Perhaps those 2 drill holes are similar to ″unrepairable damage to historic object″.
up to 2 years, I really doubt the judge will actually give any jailtime
You know it's some asshole artist on the wall who complained that his art "devalued" his in some way and demanded retribution.
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That's awful. Poor bloke. Taking the work back down, filling a couple of holes, painting them and retexturing the wall after - you'd expect them to say "You can take that down and repair it on your lunch break" and just move on.
Firing him was way over the top.
If you think that was over the top, wait 'till you hear about the jail time!
To be fair it is Germany. It will cost at least 10,000 euros to do that and it will be the most amazing wall restoration you have ever seen. Which it should be because the team that did it have a special license in wall restoration.
The 'artist' faces a potential 2 years in prison (!).
Of course I assume he won't be put in prison for 2 years, still, the German legal system is a bad joke. Politicians/managers of companies who willfully and knowingly harm society have nothing to fear, putting an image on the wall has the potential to bring you behind bars.
It's so dumb. Prison for being an artist, a prank at best.
Artists are always pulling stunts like this. They're supposed to break the rules a little, that's their role in society.
2 years is the statutory max in Germany for criminally causing property damage. That's all this is saying. He did that by drilling some holes.
According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the 51-year-old man believed it would be his “artistic breakthrough.” Instead, he may be facing prison time.
The total damage is estimated at around €100 ($107). The picture has since been removed and confiscated
Yep that seems about right.
It's ~~a nail~~ two screws in the wall, what could it cost? $100??
You gotta pay a guy an hour, German labor is not cheap. In the US a man and a truck at my company charges 61/hour.
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Good! They can put him in a cell with the guy serving life for stealing a loaf of bread.
He broke out and had a bunch of adventures. He was last seen being pursued by an Inspector in the sewers of Paris.
They wouldn't give him a raise so he gave himself one in exposure :)
His manager later: hey we are talking about it, right?
Hey Germany, remember that one dude who was rejected from an art school a while back? You sure you wanna do that sort of thing again?
Pretty sure that one dude was Austrian and trying to get into art school in Vienna.
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Sort of sad. This sounds like something I would do, not knowing there would be such consequences. Although maybe I wouldn't drill holes into the wall.
Yeah, but his job was to drill holes in the walls to install artworks all the time, so I imagine it wouldn't be a big deal to him (and likewise, wouldn't be a big deal for him to deinstall and refill the holes, as that was also his job).
I think firing him is a bit much. A museum should encourage the artistic abilities of its staff
He is under investigation for property damage—and if he is convicted, he could face up to two years in prison
Yeah, no. I mean maybe if he's done it multiple times before and proceeds to tell off the judge but even then maximum sentence is a stretch. This is dismissing the case in exchange for an obligation territory, e.g. a donation. Also, damages, though with him being a tech it's fair to let him plug the screw holes himself.
King.
So the article doesn't give the info I'm most curious about, obviously.
I want to know how long it was up, how many people and definitely how many "professionals" simply couldn't tell. Who thought it was good/decent art and belonged there? How was it discovered and under what circumstances?
I feel like these stunts show the possibility that a lot of this high end art is a complete joke. Especially if the "experts" were duped as well. Does this mean the art was actually good, or part of the high end art scene is a clown show.
There is that whole conspiracy theory (is it a conspiracy theory or is there substantial proof) that high end art is used in money laundering too.
I just think these stunts are interesting, but we never get the info I'd really like to hear about.
Agreed! Like how many people walked by it and never noticed?
Ze Germans. No sense of fun.
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