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| The 'hungry' student took out a banana from the artwork on display and ate it |
An art student picked up and ate a banana that was part of the artwork during an art exhibition in South Korea. Student Noah Huynh Soo, who ate a banana taped to an installation by artist Maurizio Cattelan, said he hadn't had breakfast in the morning, so he was very hungry.
The artwork is titled 'Comedian' which is being presented in the 'V' exhibition of Katilan's artworks. A ripe banana was taped to a wall in an exhibit at Seoul's Leam Museum of Art.
After eating the banana, the student taped the peel back to the wall. Later, the museum removed the peel and planted a new banana there.
Although all this happened within a minute, a friend of the student took a video of the entire incident. The Lyme Museum of Art has not responded to an email from the BBC. However, the museum told the media that they are not demanding any damages from the student.
The banana in this artwork is changed every two to three days.
In a video of the incident that has been shared online, the student can be heard chanting 'Excuse me' as he pulls the banana off the wall. In response to which the student does not say anything, but peels the banana and starts eating it, and the whole room falls silent.
He then tapes the banana peel to the wall in place of the banana, poses with it, and walks away.
The student later said he saw the rebellion against the administration in Katilan's work.
He told the local news agency KBS, "There can be another rebel against one rebel."
He said, "Damaging an artwork can be like a new artwork." I thought it would be interesting to do that. Isn't that banana planted there to eat?'
When Katelan was told about the incident, he said, "No problem."
This is not the first time that a banana has been taken out of Cattelan's artwork and eaten.
Performance artist David Datona ate a banana from the artwork after it sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami in 2019. Even then he was replaced by a new banana and no action was taken against him.