Emily Chan
In 2021, Danish artist Jens Haaning was commissioned to create artwork featuring real cash that was lent to him by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art. The museum gave him 532,549 Danish kroner, which equals about $75,000.
Instead, the artist submitted two blank canvases, a new work of art he called “Take the Money and Run,” pocketing the cash for himself.
He claimed that the piece was meant to be a commentary on low wages and that his actions were all part of the work he had been hired to do. He also said that the empty canvases better fit the theme of the exhibition. But now, almost two years later, a court in Copenhagen has ruled that he must return the money he took.
Originally, the museum had wanted Haaning to create updated versions of two of his earlier works, which consisted of frames filled with euros and kroner bills that represented the average annual salaries of an Austrian and Danish individual.
In an interview with a news outlet regarding his new piece, he stated, “I don’t see that I have stolen money…I have created an art piece, which is ten or a hundred times better than what we had planned. What is the problem?”
The museum’s director, Lasse Andersson, agreed that while the new artwork had a profound message about the cultural habits of society, Haaning had breached their contract.
Still, the museum decided to display the empty canvases alongside a copy of an email in which Haaning explained his actions.
When the show ended, and Haaning hadn’t given the money back, the museum filed a lawsuit against him. In court, a copy of the contract was examined, and it showed that Haaning had agreed to return the kroner after the exhibition was over.
The artist declared that he had never meant to return the money and reasoned that he had not committed any theft. He simply violated the contract, which was part of his work. He also revealed that he had used the money for bills and groceries.
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