'Take the money and run': the artist received $ 84 thousand for a painting, but brought 2 blank canvases to the museum

The museum gave the Danish artist $ 84 to paint two paintings. When he delivered the allegedly completed work, the customers were perplexed: the artist Jens Haaning donated two blank canvases to the Kunsten Museum of Contemporary Art in Aalborg (Denmark) and said that this diptych was called Take the Money and Run. More details about this story were told by the publication CBS News.

Photo: Shutterstock

Haaning was asked to recreate two of his previous works, Average Annual Income in Denmark for 2010 and Average Annual Income in Austria, first presented in 2007. Both used real money to show the average income of the two countries.

Museum director Lasse Andersson said that in addition to compensation for the work, Haaning was also given banknotes to use in his work. According to Andersson, their contract even stated that the museum would provide Haaning with an additional 6000 euros to renew the work if necessary. When the work was initially exhibited, one of them depicted an average income of 328 kronor, roughly $ 000, while the average illustrated Austrian salary was around 37 euros, or $ 800.

“We also have an agreement that the money in the amount of $84 that should have been exhibited in the work does not belong to Jens, it is supposed to be returned after the exhibition closes on January 000, 16,” explained the museum director.

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“The exhibition is called “Working on Yourself,” and it presents works of art by many contemporary artists,” he said, adding that the exhibition is valid from September 24 to January 16, 2022.

Andersson said that when they spoke to the artist earlier this year about completing the order, he agreed to the contract and "pointed to a fairly easy job."

But when it came time to deliver his creation, Haaning did the unexpected.

“The curator received an email in which Jens Haaning wrote that he had created a new piece of art and changed the title of the work to “Take the money and run,” Andersson said. “We were subsequently able to verify that the money was not invested in the work.”

Indeed, the boxes intended to be filled with cash turned out to be empty.

“The staff were very surprised when they opened the boxes. I was abroad, but I received a lot of letters,” he continued.

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When the museum director finally saw the work “Take the Money and Run,” he laughed heartily. “Jens is known for his conceptual and activist art with a humorous edge. And he gave it to us. But at the same time, this is a kind of alarming signal,” he believes.

According to Haaning's press release, “The idea was to show how salaries can be used to measure the value of a job and to showcase national differences in the European Union. But by changing the title of the work to Take the Money and Run, Haaning "questions the rights of artists and their working conditions in order to establish fairer standards in the art industry."

“Everyone would like to have more money, and in our society, blue-collar industries are valued differently,” Haaning said in a statement. — Works of art are work for artists. It is a statement that we also have a responsibility to question the structures of which we are a part. And if these structures are completely unreasonable, we must change them. They could be your marriage, your job, any social structure.”

Andersson said that while it wasn't what they agreed to in the contract, the museum received new and interesting art. “As for the $84, no contract has been broken yet, as the original contract states that we will return the money on January 000, 16,” he commented.

The director of the museum explained that they would wait and see what the artist would do. But if he does not return the money on January 16, then "of course, we will take the necessary steps so that Jens Haaning still fulfills his contract."

Finally, Lasse Andersson stressed that they are in contact with Haaning, whom he called "a respected and well-known artist in Denmark."

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