If the work of art is not crazy enough, the stories that take place in the art world are sometimes even crazier. We have listed seven of them.
1. A 26 meter rubber duck
Sometimes you make a work of art that gets a lot of attention. The work Rubber Duck by Florentijn Hofman is a good example of this. The giant rubber duck can range from 14 to 26 meters and has already floated in ports around the world. The construction has to do with invisible pillars that the duck floats on and motors that inflate the duck and keep it big. With such great work, come great chunks. In Belgium, the duck was stung 42 times by vandals, in China the rubber duck was swept away by a flood, in Taiwan the duck exploded once and the object simply leaked in the port of Hong Kong. The latter produced beautiful images of a gigantic, leaking rubber duck.
2. Selfies cause trouble
We live in the 21st century. If you don't post something on social media, how can you prove you actually saw it? This only had some unfortunate consequences for this visitor who wanted to take a selfie with the work of Yayoi Kusama. She destroyed one of the pieces while shooting. Decisive about how and what is complicated: Yayoi Kusama's work consists of an endlessly reflecting, small room that only one person can enter, containing the objects (in this case: glowing pumpkins). So there was no guard present before the accident, but a spokesperson for the museum has confirmed that it was a clumsy action while taking a selfie.
3. Is it art or is it real?
Let's start by saying that the woman in the following example survived the attack and that she had to pay for it mainly with the shock. What happened? During the Art Basel art fair in 2015, a visitor was attacked and stabbed several times with a knife. Because everyone imagined themselves in the artistic spheres and was already looking at art, it was thought that it was a performance. The police tape that was stretched to demarcate the area seemed to be part of that. Nothing could be further from the truth: the 24-year-old perpetrator was arrested and taken away, the victim transported to the hospital.
4. Is it art or is it real? #2
During a school trip by some students to the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, two apparently were bored to death. And what could be better than a little fuck with museum visitors? They strategically placed a pair of glasses on the floor and stood by them—seemingly intrigued. And what turned out? It worked. People also came to admire the glasses and pictures were taken, with telephoto lenses and all. The boys thought it was hilarious and posted it on social media, where it immediately sparked a discussion. Because what is art actually worth? For the boys it was very simple: “We were just messing around a bit”.
5. Where did I step in?
The Peanut Butter Floor by Wim T. Schippers is already a controversial work of art in itself, because why is smearing large quantities of peanut butter (bought from a wholesaler) on the floor art? In 1997, when the work was exhibited in the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, students sprinkled the floor with slices of bread and chocolate sprinkles.
However, it sometimes happens that someone accidentally steps on the floor. When the work was in Boijmans Van Beuningen, the museum chose not to demarcate the work with a ribbon. For example, several people ended up in the peanut butter layer.
6. Who did it?
How much time do you spend on the toilet on average? Not enough to crochet a cover for your toilet bowl, I suppose. Who did it (and how?!) is still unknown, but in the Guggenheim a toilet is covered with a gold crochet cover. Most likely it is a reaction to the golden toilet bowl that was on display at the Guggenheim (titled America) last year. The work was located on the fourth floor of the museum and was removed after two hours. The Yarn Bombing is rumored to be attributed to activist and artist Olek, but he neither denied nor confirmed any involvement.
7. "Oh I still have some paint at home"
What to do if an old fresco of Jesus is in an advanced state of decomposition due to moisture? A local resident of the village of Borja (Spain) and frequent visitor to the church in which the painting is located, said she would like to help. Her intentions were good, but her attempt at restoring the effigy proved disastrous. What was initially recognizable as a pious Christ looking up, became a kind of monkey figure with a brown scarf wrapped around his head. This was soon picked up by the internet and the figure became a meme. The failed attempt by the villager, however, resulted in a large increase in (disaster) tourists.
Note: This article has been translated using Google Translate