Expensive banana: student eats $120,000 artwork

A South Korean art student who ate a banana causes a stir. Because: it is not just a banana, but part of the artwork “Comedian” by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, which is currently on display at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul (South Korea).

The work includes a banana attached to the wall with silver tape. According to the artist’s instructions, it should be replaced every two to three days. The artist Cattelan sold his work to a French collector a few years ago for 120,000 dollars (almost 107,000 francs).

A video recorded by a friend of the student, according to the Guardian, shows Noh Huyn-soo pulling the tape off the wall, eating the banana and then sticking the peel back on the wall.

Why did the student do this? After the incident, he initially said he had not had breakfast in the morning and was hungry, according to The Korea Herald newspaper. However, he later added that he had thought that “destroying a modern work of art could also be a work of art”. Putting the banana peel back on afterwards is a “nice way to look at it” for him.

According to the report, the museum wants to refrain from taking action against the student. The artist Cattelan said he didn’t care about the action, that could happen. Therefore, no legal action will be taken, it said.

It is not the first such incident: in 2019, American artist David Datuna ate the banana at Art Basel in Miami. He called the action “Hungry Artist” (“Hungry Artist”). According to The Guardian, it bothered him that you could make so much money with a simple banana.