Danish artist seized 84,000 USD from museum and claims it is not theft but his “work of art”

“Take the money and run.” With this suggestive title, Danish artist Jens Haaning baptized his latest “work of art” which he produced in protest against the low wages that the Kunsten Museum of Contemporary Art in Aalborg (Denmark) offers to artists. who collaborate with him.

The work initially consisted of two glass frames with numerous banknotes, over half a million Danish crowns (534,000 crowns), which equates to approximately $ 84,000.

According to the museum, the banknotes were to be placed between the two sheets of glass, in a conceptual work that reflected the annual incomes of Denmark and Austria, respectively.

However, the artist changed his mind during the making of the piece and decided to send the completely empty frames to the museum, keeping the money which was to be returned after the end of the exhibition.

This is why he renamed the work in “Take the money and run “, which is exactly what he did with the loan money he received from the museum.

“The job is half a million (crowns) are missing”Jens Haaning asked local media to explain.

He also said he would not return the tickets because his “work of art” is precisely to have taken money from the museum.

Demonstration against low wages

The new work is a protest against the remuneration conditions offered by the museum, explains Jens Haaning.

According to the artist, it would cost him 25,000 crowns out of his pocket (nearly $ 4,000) to carry out the two agreed works, something you have had to do on previous occasions.

“Why should we show a work about Denmark and Herning 11 years ago, or a work about Austria’s relationship with a bank 14 years ago?” ” said the artist.

Instead, he came up with the idea to re-signify the commissioned work for the “Work It Out” exhibition, which specifically attempts to show the relationship between work and money.

“Why am I not doing a job that deals with my own work situation? ” reiterates. And that is what he did.

In addition, Haaning encouraged other people with “miserable working conditions like me to do the same.” “If they have a shitty job and they don’t have money and they are actually asked to give money so they can work, then take the money and run,” he told a Danish television station.

Lasse Andersson, director of Kunsten, acknowledges that Haaning has created an interesting work of art.

“I want to give Jens the absolute right to have a work created in its own right, which actually comments on the exhibition we have. But that was not the deal we had ”, said the director.

For Andersson, the artist should not keep the money as it is not part of the deal, but he acknowledges and denies that Haaning did not receive a fair payment from the museum.

“Jens gets a viewing fee, which we charge the state, he gets 10,000 crowns (about $ 1,600) depending on the contract and then we cover the expenses up to 6,000 euros ($ 7,000).“Andersson pointed out.

For now, the director has not commented on whether he would report Jens Haaning to the police for the “theft” of the money, but does not rule out doing so if the artist does not return the tickets before the end of the exhibition on January 14, 2022.

Hanning reaffirms that he will not return the money, but denies that there has been theft.

“No, it’s not theft. It’s a breach of contract and breach of contract is part of the job ” reiterated.

Jens Haanning is a conceptual artist who has participated in numerous exhibitions since the 1990s. Among his most famous works he highlights “Summer 1996 in Middelburg ”, a job that involved moving a small sewing factory with migrant workers from Turkey, Bosnia and Iran, to the Middelburg Art Museum in the Netherlands.

“Turkish Jokes” was another of his recognized works, which consisted of a recording of a conversation between Turks telling jokes in their native language which was reproduced in a public space in Oslo in 1994.

The outcome of this story will be known in January next year, when the time for Haanning’s exhibition at the Kunsten Museum of Contemporary Art in Aalborg (Denmark) expires and it is time to surrender, or not, the appropriate money.

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