Friday, October 11, 2024
Art Shaped as Beer Cans Are Mistaken for Trash by Museum Staff
mymodernmet.com: Many artists have long found inspiration in contemporary, mundane objects. Much like Marcel Duchamp‘s upside-down urinal titled Fountain or Andy Warhol‘s Campbell's Soup Cans paintings, the boundaries between art and item continue to be explored by artists.
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7 comments:
The fact that the artist’s work wasn’t lost means I can safely find this extremely funny. I’m glad there were no repercussions against the mechanic, who, like the museum said, was just trying to do his job. It’s no one’s fault: displaying the art randomly in an elevator with no placard certainly does make it seem like trash someone left behind, but at the same time, I feel like up close it’s noticeable that these are no ordinary beer cans. Still, we tend to make decisions based on what makes the most sense in our routines, and if it were me, even if the cans looked oddly meticulous, I don’t think it would’ve occurred to me that they were an art piece purposely displayed there. While it’s cute that the museum wants to display this in whimsical places and it makes sense for the artist’s intention, the decision definitely need to be more conscious and probably labeled to avoid this in the future (and to give the artist their credit)!
I found this article interesting on two accounts, one that it almost acts as a complement to the artist, and two why does the museum staff assume there's a lot of beer can casually on the floor in one corner. This piece acts as a complement because the artist was able to create realistic enough cans to fool the museum staff. They were also able to curate an immersive enough exhibit and showing of their art allowing it to become real. But my real question is why a museum staff member might assume it's normal for a plethora of beer bottles to just be laying on the floor. I can understand just mindlessly going through and doing your job but in my personal experience I have never been to a museum with an open bar. I guess in the eyes of many all trash looks the same, even beautifully detailed artwork.
This is hysterical. This reminds me of a, less funny, moment I had in high school. Our art teacher was making a hyperrealistic scuplture of a rotting banana, and when it was just at the painting stage it got left out and was thrown away (and lost) by a janitor. Our art teacher was devastated, and when she moved on to making an apple she made sure to store it in her office, where no one was supposed to be but her. This story is a cautionary tale to proper labeling of works (plaques are a necessity), but also a compliment to the artists accuracy.
This situation was very funny to me, but I also acknowledge that it could have ended very poorly. This is a huge compliment to the artist, in that he succeeded in what he was attempting to create. Honestly, I was just surprised that this hadn't happened sooner. The choice to put them in the elevator is surely an artistic one, but I wonder how many visitors had looked at it from a glance and thought to themselves “Why does this prestigious art museum have trash in its elevators? And who was drinking beer in here?”. Explained to me in the article, I understand what the artist and museum staff were trying to accomplish– but as a visitor in the museum, I too would have been confused. While I am appreciative of art, even more modern art, I honestly do not understand how the museum staff thought this was a good idea.
-Ava Basso
The way I see it, no one is at fault. When installing and exhibiting a art piece it is important that artists and curators take into account how people could interact with each aspect of the art. This includes understanding that when you make art that emulates trash and don’t appropriately label it as not being trash it can be mistakenly thrown away. I am glad that the art was recovered before it was lost forever. All this to say the artist must have done a really good job of creating realistic art for it to be mistaken as what it was modeled on.
Huh. I saw the picture of the art exhibit and immediately realized where the miscommunication was. The beer cans look super realistic to be fair. I think thus was just a huge misunderstanding, I do not think there were any bad intentions or anyone was at fault in this particular situation. I am happy to hear that they found the cans before they were thrown out and now they have a more obvious exhibit for them. I think this is actually kind of funny. I think the idea of the exhibit was interesting and that they way it was executed was also interesting, but this was nothing like I have ever seen before. Very interesting, the beer cans were an interesting and kind of funny choice. Overall, I think this whole situation made me giggle, as it was kinda stupid and funny, but I am glad that the artwork was recovered.
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